Peru's President Pedro Kuczynski survives impeachment vote
Congress in Peru has voted not to impeach President Pedro Kuczynski over alleged corruption.
Kuczynski's opponents wanted to impeach him for allegedly receiving illegal payments from the Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht.
The president appeared in person in Congress during the 10 hours of debate to deny the allegations. He accused the opposition of trying to stage a coup.
The motion to impeach required at least 87 votes to pass; but received only 79, with 19 against and 21 abstentions. Ten other lawmakers failed to attend the session.
Kuczynski, 79, initially denied receiving any money from Odebrecht. However, he later denied receiving any illegal payments but admitted working on an advisory basis for the firm.
The payments by Odebrecht were made to Westfield Capital Ltd, a company owned by Mr Kuczynski. He said that although he owned the company, he was not its manager when it received the payments.
Critics of the impeachment vote said it was an attempted power grab by the right-wing opposition Popular Force party, which controls Peru's congress. The party's leader, Keiko Fujimori, lost the 2016 election to Kuczynski by a slim margin.
At: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-42451959
Peruvian President Pedro Kuczynski
