This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A low-profile former regional governor has been sworn in as Peru’s president after his predecessor became the latest of the country’s leaders to resign amid corruption scandals and public repudiation.

Peru president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns amid corruption scandal Read more

Martín Vizcarra promised to fight corruption “head on” before he was sworn in on Friday, hours after congress voted overwhelmingly to accept the resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Kuczynski, known as PPK, abruptly tendered his resignation on Wednesday after it became clear he would not survive a second attempt to impeach him over a new corruption scandal.

The 79-year-old said he had been the victim of malicious campaign by the dominant political opposition and denied any wrongdoing.

Less than two years into a five-year term, Kuczynski is the first sitting president in Latin America to be forced out over ties to the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht, which has been at the centre of the continent’s biggest corruption scandal.

It has tainted nearly all of Peru’s main political players of the last two decades.

Kuczysnki is accused of repeatedly lying about decade-old business ties to the Brazilian firm. He narrowly escaped impeachment for “permanent moral unfitness” in December after apparently striking a backroom deal with Kenji Fujimori, a dissident from the majority opposition party led by his sister Keiko.

Three days later, Kuczynski pardoned the Fujimoris’ father Alberto, the former president who was jailed in 2009 for authorising death squads, overseeing rampant corruption and vote-rigging.

But the move failed to appease Keiko Fujimori, whose party released the secretly filmed videos this week which showed Kuczynski’s allies attempting to buy votes from opposition lawmakers to save him from impeachment.

“It was a gigantic error,” Martin Tanaka, a political scientist at the Institute of Peruvian Studies, told the Guardian. “It did nothing to improve his relationship with the Fujimoristas and earned him the hatred and emnity of the anti-Fujimoristas who had supported him throughout the previous attempt to oust him.”

Among those former allies, the leader of the leftist Nuevo Peru party Veronika Mendoza, who called for PPK to be ousted and new elections to renew Peru’s corruption-ridden system.

“Our traditional political class has plundered our state,” she told supporters on Wednesday. “PPK is not a victim, he’s going because he’s corrupt and immoral.”

It was an embarrassing end to a presidency which began with high hopes that the Oxford and Princeton-educated technocrat could modernise Peru and fight graft.

But for many Peruvians, some of whom protested in downtown Lima on Thursday night, PPK represented the corrupt political class. Amid clashes with police, protesters chanted to “get rid of them all”.

Vizcarra, the incoming president, faces many challenges – not least his own low profile: an opinion poll earlier this month showed 81% of Peruvians didn’t recognise his name.</s>The vice president of Peru arrived in Lima on Thursday from Canada to be sworn-in as president.

Martin Vizcarra, who was received by hundreds of supporters at the Jorge Chavez International Airport, will replace Pedro Pablo Kuczynski after he stepped down earlier this week.</s>Newly elected Vice-President Nanda Bahadur Pun took the oath of office and secrecy on Monday.

 President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath to Vice-President Pun at ceremony held at the Office of the President in Sheetal Niwas.

 Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, Speaker Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Chairperson of National Assembly Ganesh Prasad Timilsina, Acting Chief Justice Deepak Raj Joshi, ministers, chiefs of the constitutional bodies and the security agencies, parliamentarians and other high ranking officials were present on the occasion.

 Vice-President Pun was elected unopposed for the second term in office on Sunday.

 Vice-President Pun was announced elected to the post of Vice President unopposed as he was the sole candidate contesting the election to the post.

 The election body had presented to Vice-President Pun the certificate of his winning in the election to the post of Vice-President on Sunday soon after the announcement of his election.

 Pun was announced elected the Vice-President unopposed as per Clause 23 of the President and Vice-President Election Act, 2074 B.S.

 His candidacy was backed by the ruling CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist Centre.</s>25 immigrants sworn in as US citizens</s>NA to elect new state vice president, dismiss Vice PMs and old cabinet

On April 8, the National Assembly (NA) will elect the successors of Vice State President Nguyen Thi Doan and a number of vice prime ministers.</s>Iran's centrist president, Hassan Rouhani, tells newly-elected lawmakers being sworn in for Tehran's new parliament that economic growth can't be reached with interacting with the world. Rough Cut - Subtitled (no reporter narration).</s>SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KTIV) -- Sioux City has a new postmaster. Lori Slater-Trautwein is only the second woman to be sworn into the position in Sioux City.

In addition to overseeing 240 employees and running the post office and mail processing plant, Trautwein will also focus on the future of the United States Postal Service.

"Technology has changed the amount of mail that people actually handle. So much of the mail is handled by machine and the capacity is so huge, that as people retire in most cases we are not replacing them as we learn to be more efficient," she said.

Trautwine replaces Virginia Rohrbach who retired after 45 years of service.</s>LIMA, Peru—Martín Vizcarra, a former ambassador and one-term governor of a small mining state, was sworn in on Friday as the president of Peru, a country in tumult after his predecessor was abruptly forced from office.

Mr. Vizcarra, 55, brings little political experience to the post. But many residents and investors say they hope his reputation as a consensus builder will help ease the political tensions that have hurt one of Latin America’s fastest-growing economies over the last two decades.
Vice President Martín Vizcarra is sworn in to replace Kuczyski.