Overview
- On July 23, Congress president Fernando Rospigliosi sent a follow-up oficio saying José María Balcázar remains president until the July 28 investiture and that handing the presidential sash is a protocol or custody act that may occur on July 27 or immediately before the ceremony.
- Rospigliosi’s earlier request that Balcázar deliver the sash one day earlier provoked criticism because the initial wording was read as suggesting an earlier end to the mandate.
- Constitutional experts told reporters that the Constitution fixes presidential turnover at the oath before Congress and that the congressional president lacks authority to force a premature transfer, calling the first oficio a risky precedent.
- Keiko Fujimori’s transfer team, led by Marco Vinelli, has flagged concrete problems in several ministries including expired medicines, undelivered school kits, stalled hospital works and missing contingency plans for El Niño, language Fujimori described as 'catastrófico.'
- Fujimori has asked future ministers to hold a Council of Ministers on July 29 and said ministers will begin publicly reporting transfer findings from that date, a step likely to bring early ministerial audits and public scrutiny of outgoing agencies.