Peruvian President Kuczynski survives impeachment vote

Peruvian President Pablo Kuczynski survived an impeachment vote on Thursday after the Congress failed to pass a motion against him over graft allegations.

The motion failed to gain enough votes with 79 in favor, 19 against and 21 abstentions after more than 10 hours of debate by lawmakers in the session.

Two-thirds of the vote, or 87 of 130 lawmakers in the Congress, were required to approve an impeachment.

The motion to impeach Kuczynski followed revelations that the companies linked to Kuczynski had accepted bribes from disgraced Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, although he denied any wrongdoing.

Earlier in the day, Kuczynski addressed congress to claim his innocence and warned that the move to unseat him could weaken the nation's democracy.

"I only hope parliament understands the historical magnitude of the mistake it plans to commit and does not vote in favor of a motion to nullify (the presidency) without any real reason. You will not be harming me, you will be harming Peru," Kuczynski said in his defense.

The president called on lawmakers "to preserve the institutions and the democratic system" by voting against the motion.

Kuczynski, 79, was elected in 2016 after campaigning on a pledge to clean up corruption and secure political stability in Peru.

The motion to impeach the president for "moral incapacity" was pushed by the opposition Popular Force party. The party is led by Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who narrowly lost the 2016 election to Kuczynski.

Due to the Odebrecht corruption scandal, Kuczynski's predecessors Ollanta Humala is being held in preventive custody and Alejandro Toledo, facing an arrest warrant, is currently a fugitive in the United States.

According to the data provided by the U.S. Department of Justice, Odebrecht paid 29 million U.S. dollars to Peruvian leaders and presidential candidates from 2006 to 2014, in order to be awarded major public work contracts.

source: Xinhua