News Analysis: Peruvians hope for change with new president

by Juan Limachi and Carlos Acat

LIMA, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Martin Vizcarra, who was sworn in as Peru's new president Friday following his predecessor's resignation due to graft allegations, represents a new opportunity to forge an effective and transparent government, analysts said.

In his first presidential address Friday, Vizcarra, who was vice president until scandal-hit Pedro Pablo Kuczynski stepped down Wednesday, pledged to fight corruption and unify the country.

"We will be very firm in combating actions that go against the law, no matter where, no matter what the cost," Vizcarra said.

Kuczynski's fall from grace should mark "the start of a new era," he added.

Vizcarra is set to govern Peru through the rest of Kuczynski's scheduled term to 2021.

Peruvians are responding to the transition "with a lot of calm and a lot of hope," Carlos Canales, a political observer and president of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Lima, told Xinhua.

According to Canales, Vizcarra's main task is to restore people's trust in the government by assembling a cabinet of professionals representing the society.

"This is the start of a phase where we must seek a ministerial cabinet composed of a wide base ... in which there are no political party appointments," Canales said.

Vizcarra, who like Kuczynski came to politics from the business sector and is considered untested in dealing with the opposition-controlled Congress, needs to compensate for his weak entry into office by being firmer with the legislative body than his predecessor, Fernando Tuesta, a political science professor at Peru's Pontifical Catholic University, told Xinhua.

However, the mere fact that Vizcarra represents a change has generated hope among average Peruvians, Tuesta said.

"A new president always brings new hope, the possibility that something good can happen, that he will be able to solve daily problems," he said.

Like Canales, Tuesta said the new president should put together a strong governing team that is above "petty politics."

It remains unclear how the new president will manage the government, especially with the powerful opposition in Congress, Arturo Maldonado, a political analyst at Vanderbilt University, said.

"He runs the risk of being a figurehead, the one who is out in front while those who are really governing are the Popular Force," Maldonado said, referring to the opposition party led by Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, which dominates Congress.

Vizcarra will need to dialogue with Keiko Fujimori to get things done, but avoid the pitfall of his predecessor, who made too many concessions, Maldonado added.

In December 2017, Kuczynski pardoned Alberto Fujimori despite widespread public opposition. Fujimori was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2009 for ordering security forces to massacre 25 people.

Many Peruvians saw the concession as payback for the Fujimori family's support during a December impeachment vote in Congress that Kuczynski survived. Enditem