Peruvian lawmakers picked Jose Maria Balcazar because the nation’s new interim President on Wednesday (February 18, 2026), after earlier chief Jose Jeri was impeached on graft allegations.
The left-wing lawmaker was elected head of Peru’s Congress after a vote broadcast reside on TV, which means the 83-year-old lawyer and former decide will grow to be the nation’s eighth head of state since 2016.
The vote delivered to an finish an influence vacuum of greater than 24 hours, unprecedented within the nation’s latest historical past.
Mr. Balcazar will lead the nation till his successor takes workplace on July 28, after the Presidential election on April 12.
“In these few months that stay, we’ll assure the individuals of Peru a peaceable and clear democratic and electoral transition, leaving no room for doubt within the elections,” Mr. Balcazar mentioned in a speech to parliament.
Mr. Jeri, 39, turned the most recent chief to fall sufferer to a cycle of institutional turmoil as a robust Congress battles a weakened government towards a backdrop of persistent corruption and rising violence.
On Tuesday (February 17), he was ousted by lawmakers for suspected involvement within the irregular hiring of a number of girls in his authorities and alleged graft involving a Chinese language businessman.
In a TikTok publish on Wednesday (February 18), Mr. Jeri mentioned “serving Peru was, and can stay, an honor.”
“It’s not simple to resolve in just a few months what has been pending for many years, however each step was taken with conviction, accountability and dedication,” he added.
Mr. Jeri maintains his innocence, however for atypical Peruvians, the political upheaval is only a sideshow to their very own every day lives changing into more and more precarious.
“We reside in uncertainty,” Erick Solorzano, a 29-year-old Peruvian physician, informed AFP, with simply two months to go to the brand new presidential elections.
In ten years, 4 presidents have been impeached, two stepped all the way down to keep away from the identical destiny and just one managed to finish his meant time period.
“Presidents do not final due to corruption,” mentioned Edgardo Torres, a 29-year-old industrial engineer.
“We want a real chief in such an unstable nation,” he informed AFP.
‘No assure’
Mr. Jeri himself turned interim President following the impeachment final October of Peru’s first girl chief, Dina Boluarte, amid widespread protests over corruption and a wave of violence linked to organised crime.
He took up the function with gusto, launching into an iron-fisted anti-crime drive that proved in style in some quarters however not sufficient to maintain his head off the chopping block.
In his TikTok publish on Wednesday (February 18), he touched on the continued must “strengthen safety as the inspiration of a rustic with order and a future.”
Prosecutors final week opened an investigation into whether or not Jeri “exercised undue affect” in authorities appointments.
He discovered himself within the highlight over claims that a number of girls — 9, in line with prosecutors — have been improperly given jobs within the president’s workplace and the surroundings ministry on his watch.
Mr. Jeri can also be underneath investigation for alleged “unlawful sponsorship of pursuits” following a secret assembly with a Chinese language businessman with industrial ties with the federal government.
On Tuesday, lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to question him.
Three members of Congress, alongside Mr. Balcazar, had thrown their hats within the ring to switch Mr. Jeri: former Speaker Maria del Carmen Alva, veteran socialist Edgard Reymundo and politician Hector Acuna, whose social gathering is tainted by corruption scandals.
Whereas politicians vie for energy, Peru is contending with a wave of extortion that has claimed dozens of lives, excessive ranges of post-pandemic poverty and unemployment and the rise of gangs corresponding to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
Nonetheless, “there isn’t any assure that whoever replaces Jeri will have the ability to make it to July 2026,” political analyst Augusto Alvarez informed AFP.
Printed – February 19, 2026 08:49 pm IST