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Peru Opposition Parties Plan New Motion to Impeach Kuczynski

Peru Opposition Parties Plan New Motion to Impeach Kuczynski

(Bloomberg) -- Peru’s Pedro Pablo Kuczynski may face a new opposition attempt to force him from office after one party shifted its position and said it would now support an impeachment motion of its own.

New Peru, which chose not to vote in December’s impeachment ballot, told reporters Thursday that new information has emerged about Kuczynski’s ties to Brazilian builder Odebrecht SA. Minutes earlier, another leftist party, Broad Front, said it is also seeking support for an new impeachment motion.

The president’s decision to pardon former autocrat Alberto Fujimori three days after he narrowly survived impeachment in December has enraged many and triggered resignations from Kuczynski’s party as well as his cabinet. Lawmakers from Popular Force also said they’ll support a new impeachment motion, according to a statement on the website of Congress.

Popular Force, New Peru and Broad Front together have 81 of the 130 seats in Congress and an impeachment motion would need 87 votes to pass. Last week, Cesar Villanueva, a lawmaker with the Alliance for Progress party, which largely abstained in the December vote, said the group was considering proposing an impeachment motion. The party has eight seats in Congress.

Panamericana Television’s Panorma program reported Jan. 28 prosecutors have information about bank transactions involving Kuczynski, his firm Westfield Capital and Odebrecht when he was a government minister more than a decade ago. Kuczynski has said he had no knowledge of Westfield’s dealings with Odebrecht as he’d handed running of the company over to an associate.

To contact the reporter on this story: John Quigley in Lima at jquigley8@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Vivianne Rodrigues at vrodrigues3@bloomberg.net, Philip Sanders

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