Peru leader dissolves Congress hours before impeachment bid

Peru's President Pedro Castillo has announced helium is dissolving Congress and replacing it with an "exceptional exigency government".

The embattled person said helium would regularisation by decree.

Mr Castillo made the announcement conscionable hours earlier Congress was owed to commencement caller impeachment proceedings against him - the 3rd since helium came to bureau successful July 2021.

The 2 erstwhile impeachment motions against him failed to get capable votes.

The country's Congress is controlled by parties opposed to Mr Castillo.

He has accused those aiming to region him from bureau of trying to undermine democracy, but his critics accidental the dissolution of Congress amounts to a "coup d'etat".

There are reports that respective ministers person resigned successful protest.

In a televised code to the federation connected Wednesday, helium said: "In effect to citizens' demands passim the magnitude and breadth of the country, we person decided to found an exceptional authorities aimed astatine re-establishing the regularisation of instrumentality and democracy."

He said that "a caller Congress with constituent powers to gully up a caller constitution" would beryllium convened "within nary much than 9 months".

Peru has been going done a rocky governmental period, with aggregate presidents ousted from bureau successful caller years.

In 2020, it had 3 presidents wrong the abstraction of 5 days.

Mr Castillo, who is simply a left-wing erstwhile schoolhouse teacher, was elected successful June 2021 successful a polarising predetermination successful which helium defeated his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori.

He has precocious been warring allegations of corruption, which helium says are portion of a crippled to oust him.