Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has resigned as President of Peru, after the main opposition party released recordings that implicated his administration in a vote-buying scheme.
Kuczynski, commonly known as PPK, stepped down after one year and seven months in office. Vice President Martín Vizcarra has stepped in as president. The term ends in July 2021.
“This political confrontation has created a climate of ungovernability that causes enormous damage and does not allow us to advance,” PPK said in his resignation letter to Congress.
“Before this difficult situation… that unjustly makes me appear guilty of acts in which I have not participated, I think the best thing for the country is that I resign as president,” he said.
PPK was preparing to face a second impeachment vote this week, when Fuerza Popular, the political party led by Keiko Fujimori, released video and audio recordings that appeared to show government officials offering to build public works projects in a lawmaker’s district in exchange for backing the president in the first impeachment vote.
PPK survived impeachment by nine votes in December last year. Keiko’s brother, Kenji Fujimori, who reassured the lawmaker in the recording that he would not face prosecution, broke from Fuerza Popular and voted to keep PPK in office. Days after surviving the first impeachment vote, PPK pardoned former President Alberto Fujimori, who was serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses while he was in office.
“This government believed it could buy anything with cash. Mistake,” Keiko Fujimori said in a tweet.
After the videos became public, the opposition parties had enough votes to remove PPK from office, according to local press reports. Members of PPK’s cabinet and even the head of the president’s own party, Salvador Heresi, called on Kuczynski to resign.
PPK was accused of lying to Congress about his dealings with the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which stands at the center of a region-wide corruption scandal. PPK denies the charges.
“It is important for our nation that we work towards the constitutional political reforms that will allow not to go through this difficult moment again,” PPK said in a televised address.
The stock exchange in Lima remained steady after PPK’s resignation, rising 0.88% to 20,841 points on Wednesday. The Peruvian sol gained slightly against the dollar, moving to PEN3.25 from PEN3.26 on the day.