Peru’s former vice president, Dina Boluarte has been sworn in as the country’s new president.
Boluarte was installed as president on Wednesday 7 November, 2022 barely hours after former President Pedro Castillo was impeached in Lima.
Recall that until her assumption of office as vice president July, 2021, she was not well known in Peruvian political scene.
The country’s former president Castillo was ousted from office over alleged attempt to avoid an impeachment vote by dissolving Congress and ruling by decree.
Before becoming president, Boluarte was one of the Castillo government’s best-known faces due to her position as Minister of Development and Social Inclusion, a post she held simultaneously with the vice presidency up until two weeks ago.
After his removal from office Castillo, was detained on charges of rebellion.
Within the short while of his post as president, Castillo sidelined Boluarte from his latest cabinet reshuffle which he did for at least 5 times.
Speaking Boluartes resilience, leftist Congresswoman Sigrid Bazan of the new president said, “She has the profile of a fighting woman,” said .
Meanwhile, Boluarte narrowly avoided being disqualified from holding public office for 10 years, after a congressional commission dismissed a complaint that she committed an alleged constitutional violation.
Peru’s comptroller accused her of holding a private and public po mesition at the same time, something prohibited under Peruvian law.
She had signed documents as president of a club after she had already taken up her government post, the Comptroller’s office alleged.
Although, Boluarte admitted that she signed the documents, but cited various bureaucratic reasons for doing so. The club is made up of those who, like her, live in Lima but are from Apurimac, a region in the southeast of the country.
In July, Boluarte said she was willing to assume the office of president and even finish the term that runs until 2026, if Castillo who was under investigation for corruption by the prosecutor’s office was removed.
“There is a mandate that the people have given us, to govern for five years, and that is the only agenda we have. To work these remaining four years for the most vulnerable, the most needy,” she said.
Boluarte said that Castillo has repeatedly denied to her having committed any act of corruption.