peter castle is immersed in a process that could conclude, if the necessary votes are obtained, with his departure from the post of President of the Republic, after the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations approved a report that recommends impeaching him by impeachment for the alleged crime of treason against the country and infringement of the Magna Carta and disqualify him from the exercise of public office for a period of five years.
Report for treason
On Friday, November 11, the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations approved by 11 votes in favor and 10 against, the report prepared by Wilson Soto (Popular Action) and presented by Diego Bazán (Avanza País) on the complaint for alleged treason against Pedro Castillo.
The document proposes to disqualify the head of state for five years from exercising public office and, secondly, to allow his prosecution in the Public Ministry.
Permanent Commission will evaluate the case
Once this procedure has been completed, the working subgroup chaired by Lady Camones will send the final report against Pedro Castillo to the Permanent Commission.
There, all the aspects raised by the document will be submitted again to debate and vote, both the disqualification raised by the political trial, and the possibility of being prosecuted by the Prosecutor’s Office as part of the preliminary hearing that corresponds to all high-ranking officials.
At this stage, President Pedro Castillo may be summoned again to, through his legal defense, state his reasons for dismissing the proceeding against him.
After the debate, the Permanent Commission must approve, modify or file the constitutional complaint by simple majority. If approved, it must be scheduled for evaluation in the plenary session of Congress.
Last instance
The Plenary Session of Congress will be in charge of ultimately evaluating the constitutional complaint for treason against the fatherland against Pedro Castillo if it is approved by the Permanent Commission.
As currently stated in the final report approved by the subcommission, two specific actions are proposed against the head of state: his disqualification from exercising public office for five years in the first place, and his prosecution for the crime of treason in second.
To approve the disqualification, the Regulations of the Congress establish that the political trial must be approved with the favorable vote of two thirds of the number of members of the plenary without the participation of the Permanent Commission.
This means that, of the total of 130 members of Congress, the members of the Permanent Commission (incumbent or alternate members who replaced them) cannot vote. Additionally, legislator Freddy Díaz, who is suspended, must be subtracted. The remaining 96 legislators will be the only ones who will be able to vote.
Following this calculation, the vote in favor of 64 congressmen is equivalent to the two thirds required by the parliamentary norm to disqualify Pedro Castillo.
LOOK: The country is torn between the closure of Congress and the disqualification of the president
Fewer votes for suspension
The report on the case of treason against Pedro Castillo can lead to the president being suspended from office. For this, the accusation must be approved as part of the impeachment trial with a favorable vote of half plus one of the number of members of Congress without the Permanent Commission.
At this point it should be remembered that, according to preliminary calculations, there are 96 congressmen able (not counting the 33 members of the Permanent) to vote in plenary, so half plus one would be equivalent to 49 votes.
Next step, the suspension of the head of state may be put to a vote for the duration of the criminal process, as happened with parliamentarians Kenji Fujimori, Guillermo Bocángel and Bienvenido Ramírez in 2018. To approve it, the same number of votes is required not counting the representatives of the Permanent Commission, that is, 49 parliamentarians.
