Dina Boluarte, in the hands of the Peruvian Congress due to Rolexgate: will the president be removed?

Some luxury watches shake the fragile government of Dina Boluarte. The president of Peru must explain this week to the Prosecutor’s Office the origin of these jewels, but His fate, more than justice, depends on Congress, where the left promotes his removal.

Dina Boluarte, who assumed power in December 2022 to replace the dismissed and imprisoned Pedro Castillo, will be heard by prosecutors on Friday, April 5, 2024 for the first time since The police raided his home and presidential office on March 30.

The 61-year-old president is investigated for alleged illicit enrichment, as a result of “Rolexgate”, as the scandal that broke out in mid-March due to a journalistic investigation is known. Boluarte would have several luxury watches that he would not have declared within his assets.

On Monday, six ministers resigned amid the storm. The future of his mandate, which ends in July 2026, “is uncertain, despite the fact that it is played by two separate ropes: the judicial and the political,” analyst Augusto Álvarez Rodrich told AFP.

Given the scandal that the raid produced, Dina Boluarte requested to advance the date of her investigationalthough the Prosecutor’s Office has not yet commented on that request.

During the proceedings, she must exhibit and justify the purchase of the alleged collection of at least three Rolex watches.which the press attributes to him through various photographs published in recent days.

The Prosecutor’s Office, however, can investigate it for a maximum of eight months since it began doing so in March. If you decide to accuse her, you will have to wait until her term ends in July 2026 to take her to trial.as established by the Constitution.

So it would be in “the political terrain, Congress, where it will be decided whether she remains in the presidency,” Alvarez stressed.

The Prosecutor’s Office has already been investigating Boluarte since 2023 for the alleged crimes of “genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries”, for the death of more than 50 civilians “during social mobilizations between December 2022 and January 2023” that called for his resignation and early elections.

The unicameral parliament began the process of a motion for vacancy (dismissal) due to “permanent moral incapacity” presented by Perú Libre, a leftist party to which Boluarte belonged. The request is supported by 30 congressmen, but To be admitted to debate it requires more than fifty votes from the 130 legislators.

Only later would a political trial begin. To be removed, The opposition requires more than 86 votes. In this context, Prime Minister Gustavo Adrianzén will go to Congress on Wednesday to present the Government’s general policy and request a vote of confidence, in an act that was planned before the crisis broke out.

Congress is controlled by a majority of right-wing and far-right parties, which support Boluarte. She lacks her own bench.

“So far there is no possibility of a vacancy because Congress is aware that “it would be inevitable to call early elections and he prefers to avoid that risk,” according to Álvarez, also a columnist for the newspaper La República.

In the time he has been in power, the parliamentary left presented two impeachment motions against Boluarte. None were admitted to debate.

“The main forces in Congress intend to maintain the state of affairs as long as possible,” political scientist Carlos Meléndez, from the Chilean university Diego Portales, told AFP.

But he warned that “It would be a miracle if her term ends because no one wants to be an ally of an unpopular president in an electoral context,” in reference to the 2026 elections.

The scandal exploded when his popularity did not exceed 10% in the polls.

Boluarte has ruled out resigning and insists that he will clarify the case of the watches before the Prosecutor’s Office. He has also denounced a “systematic attack and harassment” aimed at weakening his government.

If she resigns, the head of Congress assumes the presidency and must call general elections in six months.

“The best thing that could happen to the country is for this ordeal to end and national politics to restart with new general elections that include Congress,” said analyst Juan Carlos Tafur on the Sudaca news portal.

With Boluarte there are six presidents affected by corruption cases so far in the 21st century. Since 2016, Peru has had six leaders.