Peruvian president says to leave office following Congress' removal vote

LIMA - Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra said on Monday night that he will not challenge the Congress's impeachment decision and will "leave the presidential palace today."

Vizcarra made the remarks in a speech following a Congress vote to impeach him over bribery allegations.

Vizcarra said that he will not take any legal actions against the legislature, stressing that he does not want "it to be understood that his spirit of service to the people has been only a will to exercise power."

Vizcarra maintained that he is leaving the presidency "with a clear conscience and duty fulfilled," since "all my life I have acted with transparency and put all my effort, my ability and my heart at the service of the people."

He also thanked the people "for undertaking with us the frontal fight against corruption," adding that "I leave the government palace, as I entered two years and eight months ago, with my head held high."

Vizcarra said that from now on he will face the investigations against him in a corresponding manner "to demonstrate, within the framework of the due process, the falsity of the accusations."

He is accused of receiving 285,000 U.S. dollars from the Obrainsa-Astaldi construction consortium and 370,000 dollars from ICCGSA-Incot consortium when he was governor of the Moquegua region from 2011 to 2014.

The Peruvian Congress approved the impeachment of Vizcarra as the motion for alleged "permanent moral incapacity" against the president has exceeded the 87-vote threshold, with 105 votes in favor, 19 against and four abstentions.

This is the second time in less than two months that the opposition-led Peruvian Congress has discussed an impeachment motion against the president.

The first impeachment proceeding is centered on Vizcarra's relationship with a little-known singer Richard Cisneros and nearly 50,000 dollars in questionable contracts that the singer was given by the Ministry of Culture.

Manuel Merino, president of the Congress, will assume the presidency and become the interim president of Peru.