MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru's cabinet survives Parliamentarian vote of confidence

Castillo avoided having to appoint another Prime Minister

The Government of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and Prime Minister Guido Bellido has survived a vote of confidence motion at the national single-House Legislature controlled by the right-wing opposition.

The leftist Castillo and Bellido got 73 favourable votes in favour and 50 against, with no abstentions. He needed 63 to survive (out of 124 MPs present at the session).

“As a consequence, the question of trust has been approved,” declared Legislature Speaker María del Carmen Alva, after the vote.

Castillo thanked lawmakers on Twitter and stated that “the search for a consensus will allow us to govern together with the people and for the development of public policies of a social nature.”

The President's Peru Libre party also expressed its gratitude for the outcome and admitted it was correct and democratic that the opposition had remained “vigilant” of national issues.

“We look at those banks that support Peru and bet on governability, they will always be vigilant that it is the most correct and democratic,” Peru Libre spokesman Waldemar Cerrón said.

Opposition groups have announced that they will seek to question and possibly censor the questioned cabinet ministers, such as the Minister of Labor Iber Maraví, whose name appears in a police report related to subversive acts in Ayacucho in 1981.

Cerrón also pointed out that they were not afraid of these proceedings: “It is the legitimate right of Congress to question the ministers. We are not afraid. It must be so, to be vigilant of the work of ministers. It is the political control of Congress,” he said.

Bellido's 73 supporting votes came from Peru Libre, Juntos por el Perú, Acción Popular, Alianza para el Progreso, Somos Peru y Podemos Peru.

Had he lost the vote, Castillo would have had to appoint another prime minister, and reshuffle the cabinet, which would have delayed the President's agenda and deepened the uncertainty Peru has been going through since the beginning of the year.