Dina Boluarte, a former lawyer, on Wednesday (December 7), became the first female president of the Andean nation, Peru. It has been an unexpected stroke of luck for her as it came following the impeachment of her former boss, president Pedro Castillo, by the country's legislature, the Congress. Before being sworn in as president by the Congress, she was vice president as she was the running mate of the immediate-past president Pedro Castillo during the country's last general election held in April, 2021. The 60-year-old Dina Boluarte may remain president till 2026, the end year of the five-year term since the last election. However, given the chaotic nature of Peruvian politics, particularly the endless tug of war between the president and the Congress, Ms Boluarte's fate as president is going to be on a knife edge like all other presidents in the past. Her predecessor was removed in the Congress's third such attempt to depose him since he was elected president a year and a half before. This time the charge against him was his attempt to dissolve the Congress through a decree on Wednesday. And hours after that move, he was dislodged from power and reported to have been arrested.
Though 101 members out of 130 voted to impeach President Castillo, some South American governments were critical of the development. Brazil's leftist president, Lula da Silva, for instance, called his removal 'regrettable', while Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, outright censured the Peruvian political elite for its action. The Colombian president, on the other hand, condemned any attack against democracy. Now the problem is-- democracy is the cause that politics of every stripe claims it to be its own. And such turn of events led to MS Boluarte's becoming president. As she was no longer a Castillo-loyalist as she had meanwhile distanced herself from the former president on the issue of the choice of the prime minister, Ms Boluarte did not face much opposition in Congress.
But she has not been the sole female candidate for president in Peru. In fact, there is a stronger and charismatic woman, Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, former president of Peru, but now serving term in jail on corruption charges. One may recall that he was president for two terms (from 1990 till 2000). But later he fled the country to avoid facing corruption charge and his failed bid to become president for the third consecutive term in violation of the constitutional provision. Keiko Fujimori failed in her bid for presidency three times. Rightist Keiko Fujimori lost to the leftist Pedro Castillo in her last presidential race. In that sense Ms Fujimori should have been Ms Boluarte's staunch opponent. Strangely, in the Congress voting, she supported Ms Boluarte.
Evidently, Ms Boluarte, a newcomer in dicey Peruvian politics, will have to tread carefully, if she wants to continue her office till the end of its present term. However, to begin with, she took the right move by calling for a political dialogue and pledging to form a broad-based cabinet including members from all ideological groups. Her apparent acceptability to diverse political groups may be the fact that she does not represent any party at the moment. For as she became critical of former president, she was expelled from his party, Peru Libre, last January. But that ultimately may also prove to be her nemesis. Remember president Martin Vizcarra? Though he did not belong to any party, still he could not escape impeachment in 2020.
In last three decades many Peruvian presidents had to face similar charges of corruption or of 'permanent moral incapacity'. After taking oath as President Dina Boluarte said, 'What I ask for is a space, a time to rescue the country'. But will Peru's Congress or its fractious politics, for that matter, give her a chance?
