José María Balcázar elected Peru’s interim president
Octogenarian leftist, who has defended child marriage, replaces José Jerí, who was voted out after a scandal
Peru’s congress elected José María Balcázar, an octogenarian leftist lawmaker who has defended child marriage, as the country’s interim president on Wednesday ahead of general elections in April. Balcázar is Peru’s ninth president since 2016.
The surprise election, in which Balcázar beat the favourite, conservative lawmaker María del Carmen Alva, came after lawmakers voted to remove his predecessor José Jerí, on Tuesday, after just four months in office, due to a scandal over secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen.
Balcázar, from the leftist Peru Libre party, was immediately sworn in as Peru’s head of congress on Wednesday after a four-hour session in which none of the four candidates managed to get a simple majority and lawmakers voted to elect Balcázar over Alva in a second round of voting.
Balcázar’s election prompted finger-pointing and recriminations among rightwing parties, as well as praise from sectors of the Peruvian political left. Balcázar joins a long list of leaders in an unprecedented period of political instability.
But it is Balcázar’s previous remarks expressing his approval of sexual relations between girls aged 14 and male teachers that have dominated Peruvian news coverage following his unexpected election.
In 2023, the former regional high court judge sparked controversy as the only lawmaker to criticise and vote against a measure to ban child marriage. He said it should be limited to those under 14 only.
“From the age of 14 onwards, there should be no impediment; everyone has sexual relations, [male] teachers with pupils, female teachers with pupils, and between pupils too. That’s fine,” he told journalists after the vote in congress. He later said his remarks had been taken out of context.
As the chair of the congressional education committee, he said it was common for teachers to have sex with their students, even saying the relations could be “beneficial” for the minor. In a statement at the time, Peru’s women’s ministry strongly criticised his remarks as justifying “sexual violence against school-age children and adolescents, a painful and despicable situation that profoundly affects their overall wellbeing and fundamental rights”.
When questioned about those remarks in an interview for a national radio RPP broadcaster on Thursday, Balcázar replied: “I will not change my mind, I am firm in my convictions.”
In addition, Balcázar has been investigated for allegedly embezzling funds when he was head of the bar association in his native region of Lambayeque. He was expelled from the association in 2022 after a disciplinary hearing.
The former judge has gone on the record as saying he would release jailed former leftist leader Pedro Castillo who was sentenced by Peru’s supreme court in November to 11 years, five months and 15 days in prison for trying to disband congress and rule by decree in December 2022.
Balcázar is expected to preside over the country until 28 July, when a new president takes office. Peruvians will head to the polls on 12 April with a run-off vote expected in June.
However, amid fears that Balcázar could exceed his role in leading the country to elections, pro-democracy, business and rights organisations have called for restraint.
Álvaro Henzler of pro-democracy nonprofit Transparencia Perú, said: “Out of respect for the stability of the country and in view of an exhausted citizenry, the new president’s mandate must be strictly limited to ensuring a transparent and orderly democratic transition and preventing a worsening of the institutional crisis we are currently experiencing.”