Overview
- On July 22 the acting president of Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, sent an official oficio telling interim president José María Balcázar that his mandate ends on July 26 and asking that the presidential sash be delivered to Congress on July 27 at 9:00 a.m.
- Balcázar formally rejected the earlier handover and asked that the sash be handed over on July 28 so the presidency remains continuous through the investiture ceremony.
- Rospigliosi has publicly said there will be no power vacuum and that the incoming congressional leadership will preside over the July 28 investiture, but the exact protocol remains unresolved because a bicameral Congress will by then have elected a new Mesa Directiva.
- Legal experts and former officials dispute the Congress interpretation and point to past precedents used to protect continuity, while other commentators argue the restored bicameral rules mean the new president of the Senate — reported contender Miguel Torres — would receive the sash.
- The unresolved procedure could affect urgent transition tasks, including a pending Justice Ministry file on a possible pardon for Pedro Castillo and the incoming government’s security agenda scheduled for its first Council of Ministers on July 29.