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Cabinet resigns ahead of time as
Toledo’s popularity drops to new lows
On 24 June, the entire ministerial cabinet of President Alejandro Toledo
resigned. This is not uncommon in Peru. In fact, the cabinet is
traditionally reshuffled once a year. However, changes typically occur on
the occasion of the Independence Day on 28 July. This year, the move was
made ahead of time to halt the persistent erosion in President Toledo’s
popularity. Despite the resilient state of the economy, Toledo’s approval
rating has continued to drop and has now reached a new low of 11%, down
from almost 60% when he took office in 2001. Support has dropped due to a
series of personal scandals and flailing public confidence in Toledo’s
ability to deliver on ambitious election promises. Moreover, the country
has just ended a bout of social unrest and strikes, which prompted Toledo
to declare a state of emergency in June and ended in one shot demonstrator
and several hundred injured. Finally, in the week prior to the cabinet
resignation, Congress had rejected fiscal reforms designed to fund a
salary increase promised by Toledo to end the strikes. According to
Finance Minister Javier Silva Ruete, the rejection could create a budget
shortfall of about 190 million soles (US$ 55 million).
Beatriz Merino replaces Luis Solari as prime minister
The cabinet reshuffle is intended to improve support for Toledo in
opposition-dominated Congress without alienating his own party members of
Perú Posible, which were pressuring for a higher representation in the new
cabinet. The main change in the new cabinet is the new prime minister. As
the replacement of Prime Minister Luis Solari, head of Perú Posible,
Beatriz Merino has become the first woman in Peruvian history to hold this
position. Toledo hopes that the appointment will improve his position in
Congress. Beatriz Merino, a 55-year-old lawyer who had been running Peru's
tax agency is well respected and even opposition leader Lourdes Flores,
who ran for president in 2001, welcomed her appointment. Merino has
degrees from Harvard and the London School of Economics. She served as a
senator and congresswoman during most of the 1990s, representing the
opposition party Independent Moralist Front (FIM, Frente Independiente
Moralizador), and is alleged to have close ties with writer and former
presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa.
While the Merino nomination was generally welcomed, some political
observers claimed that the reshuffling of other cabinet positions was not
going far enough, as key cabinet positions were left unchanged. In
particular, with the confirmation of Javier Silva Ruete as Economy
Minister and Alberto Sanabria Ortiz as Finance and Interior Minister, key
policy areas are likely to develop along the lines in the past. In total,
Toledo swore in six new cabinet members, ratified eight ministers and had
two ministers swap portfolios.
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