Peru's Congress voted Tuesday to remove interim President José Jeri from office just four months into his term, making him the country's third consecutive president to be toppled by the legislature and its seventh head of state in less than a decade.

The vote was 75 in favor of removal, 24 against, and three abstentions. Jeri, 39, faced seven separate motions of censure tied to undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen and allegations of irregular hiring of women who later received government positions.

Legislators will convene Wednesday to elect a new head of Congress, who will automatically assume the presidency and serve as interim leader until the winner of Peru's April 12 general election is inaugurated on July 28. Fernando Rospigliosi, the current acting head of Congress and constitutionally next in the line of succession, has declined to assume the presidency. Parties have until 6 p.m. local time Wednesday to register candidates.

Jeri said he would respect the outcome of the vote.

The 'Chifagate' scandal

The crisis that ended Jeri's presidency began last month when Peruvian investigative television program Cuarto Poder aired footage of the president arriving at a Lima restaurant late at night wearing a hoodie pulled over his head to meet with Zhihua Yang, a Chinese businessman who owns stores and holds a state-granted concession for a hydroelectric project that has faced questions about transparency and experienced construction delays.

The December meeting was not included on the official presidential agenda, as required under Peruvian law. Subsequent footage showed Jeri visiting another of Yang's businesses — a wholesale store — this time wearing sunglasses. Neither visit was publicly disclosed.

The scandal was quickly dubbed "Chifagate," after "chifa," the Peruvian term for Chinese-Peruvian fusion restaurants.

A third Chinese businessman, Jiwu Xiaodong, who is reportedly under house arrest amid an investigation into alleged ties to an illegal timber trafficking network, was present at the first meeting and visited the presidential palace on three separate occasions during Jeri's tenure. Jeri told lawmakers he did not know Jiwu well and described him as a friend of Yang's.

Jeri confirmed the authenticity of the videos and acknowledged that he had not disclosed the visits, but denied any wrongdoing. He said he had known Yang before assuming the presidency and claimed the meetings were to organize a Peruvian-Chinese friendship celebration. He also said Yang had given him candy and paintings without letting him pay, "because he was being kind to me."

Jeri declined to provide his phone records to lawmakers.

Prosecutors opened an investigation into "illegal sponsorship of interests" in connection with the meetings. His approval rating dropped 10 points from a prior 51% after the scandal broke.

Allegations beyond the meetings

The Chinese businessman scandal was not the only allegation driving Jeri's removal. Congress also cited accusations that the president took late-night meetings at his presidential office with women who later received government contracts or positions.

Cuarto Poder reported that five women were given jobs in the president's office and the environment ministry after visiting with Jeri. Prosecutors said the number was actually nine and opened an investigation into "whether the head of state exercised undue influence" in the appointments.

Jeri also faced prior accusations of sexual assault dating to December 2024, though prosecutors dropped that case in August 2025.

"I haven't committed any crimes," Jeri said on Sunday, two days before the vote.

A constitutional shortcut around impeachment

Jeri's removal exploited a procedural feature of his unusual path to the presidency. He was never elected president — he assumed the office in October after Congress voted unanimously to remove his predecessor, Dina Boluarte, on grounds of "moral incapacity." Boluarte had no vice president, and Jeri, as head of Congress at the time, was next in the line of succession.

That interim status gave lawmakers a faster path to removal. A formal impeachment requires a supermajority of 87 votes in Peru's 130-member unicameral legislature. But because Jeri technically held the presidency by virtue of being head of Congress, lawmakers instead voted to censure him — stripping him of that title with a simple majority and, by extension, removing him from the presidency.

The "moral incapacity" clause in Peru's constitution has been broadly interpreted by legislators, who have used it repeatedly to remove presidents who lost the political support of congressional factions. Critics have called the provision overly vague and ripe for abuse.

A decade of presidential turnover

Jeri's removal extends a pattern of instability that has defined Peruvian politics since 2016. The country will now receive its eighth president in as many years. Only two of those leaders were elected by popular vote.

Boluarte, Jeri's predecessor, lasted nearly three years but survived violent protests in which police killed dozens of demonstrators before ultimately being removed over corruption scandals and anger at rising crime. Pedro Castillo, the last democratically elected president, was impeached in December 2022 after he attempted to dissolve Congress to avoid a third impeachment attempt — a move widely described as a self-coup. Castillo was sentenced last year to 11 years and five months in prison for rebellion and conspiracy against the state.

Other former presidents have fared no better. Alejandro Toledo, who served from 2001 to 2006, received a 20-year prison sentence for corruption and money laundering. Ollanta Humala, president from 2011 to 2016, was sentenced to 15 years for illegal campaign financing. Martin Vizcarra, who served from 2018 to 2020, was convicted in November of accepting bribes and sentenced to 14 years.

"It will be difficult to find a replacement with political legitimacy in the current Congress, with evidence of mediocrity and strong suspicion of widespread corruption," political analyst Augusto Alvarez said.

Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, was blunter about the motivations behind the vote. "It strikes me that there is no trace of high mindedness here, only electoral calculations," he said. "Enough lawmakers concluded their support for Jeri would hurt them in elections, so they had to act."

An election looms amid instability

Peru's general election is set for April 12, with a possible presidential runoff in June if no candidate crosses 50% of the vote. The field is packed — more than 30 candidates have entered the race, a national record. Large portions of the electorate remain undecided.

Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a conservative businessman and former mayor of Lima from the right-wing Popular Renewal party, currently leads in polls and was among the most vocal proponents of Jeri's removal. Keiko Fujimori, a well-known former legislator whose father Alberto Fujimori governed Peru in the 1990s, is also in the race.

Despite the revolving door at the presidential palace, Peru's mining-heavy economy has remained largely insulated from the political turmoil. The country posted 3.4% growth in 2025 with inflation at 1.7% — among the lowest rates in emerging markets. Its public debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 32% in 2024, one of the lowest in Latin America.

The economic resilience has not translated into political stability. The next interim president — Peru's eighth leader since 2016 — will govern for roughly five months before handing power to whoever emerges from the April election. Whether that person lasts any longer than their predecessors is an open question.