BREAKING: Lawmakers Vote to Impeach President in Dramatic Move

Peru’s Congress has ousted interim President José Jerí just four months after he took office for failing to disclose meetings with Chinese businessmen.

The scandal unfolded last month after videos emerged of Jerí meeting several times outside his official schedule with businessman Zhihua Yang, who was under government scrutiny.

Jerí had previously apologised for the meetings but denied any wrongdoing, accusing his rivals of a public smear campaign.

His removal from office makes him the third consecutive president to be ousted, after he replaced former leader Dina Boluarte, who was impeached in October last year.

Jerí was Peru’s seventh president since 2016 amid a tumultuous political landscape that has seen a succession of leaders leave the post under contentious circumstances.

The Peruvian people did not elect him, but – as head of Congress – was sworn in as president after his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, was impeached in October 2025.

While lawmakers had set a date to discuss impeaching Jerí, in the end they opted for a different parliamentary procedure called censure, which only required a simple majority to pass rather than the super majority needed for an impeachment.

Later on Wednesday, Congress will name a new interim president who will serve only for a few months – until a new president is chosen by the people in a general election this April.

Jerí had come under fire following a series of controversies dubbed “Chifa-gate” – after a local name for Chinese-Peruvian fusion food and the restaurants which serve it.

Security camera footage of Jerí’s meetings with Yang, who owns several businesses and was granted a state concession for an energy project, was first reported by local media.

In one of the videos, Jerí could be seen wearing a hooded top during a late-night visit at one of Yang’s restaurants.

Also present at one of the meetings was another Chinese citizen who was under house arrest while being investigated for alleged links to an illegal timber network.

Peruvian law requires presidents to document all their official activities, but Jerí did not record those meetings.

Jerí faced further criticism after it emerged that state contracts had been awarded to a number of women following late-night meetings they had with him in the presidential palace.

Ruth Luque, one of the lawmakers who backed the censure measure, said she wanted a leader who would put public interest and security first.

“We ask to end this agony so we can truly create the transition citizens are hoping for,” she said, according to Reuters news agency. “Not a transition with hidden interests, influence-peddling, secret meetings and hooded figures. We don’t want that sort of transition.”

Pressure had been mounting for Jerí to resign in the wake of the scandals as he faced a corruption investigation launched by the attorney general and his approval ratings plummeted.

His removal marks another chapter of instability for Peru, which is due to hold a general election in April, after which power will be transferred to a new president.

Jerí’s predecessor Boluarte was impeached following a tenure that was plagued by protest, scandals and a surge in gang violence.

Less than a week after Jerí assumed power, protests organised by young Peruvians demanding the political class to do more to combat crime and corruption left one dead and more than 100 people injured.