Pedro Castillo Survived his First “Trial by Fire” as President of Peru

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On August 27, 2021, the government of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo and Prime Minister Guido Bellido survived a vote of confidence motion in the national single-chamber legislature which is currently controlled by the right-wing opposition. Castillo, Bellido, and the cabinet got 73 votes in favor and 50 against, with no abstentions. Castillo needed 63 to survive (out of 124 legislators present at the session). This was the first big test of Castillo’s presidency. The president, a 51-year-old left-leaning former rural schoolteacher, won a presidential runoff by a very narrow margin over perennial right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori. Castillo’s first month in office has been widely described on the right as a chaotic jumble, while leftists pointed to rightwing sabotage and machinations. Pundits and editorialists offered their own chaotic jumble of opinion.

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