Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Peru's Congress elected leftist lawmaker Jose Maria Balcazar, 83, as interim president late Wednesday after removing Jose Jeri a day earlier amid corruption allegations.
Lawmakers chose Balcazar in a second round of voting during an extraordinary session convened to fill the vacancy left when Jeri was censured as congressional president. Under Peru's constitutional succession rules, the head of Congress automatically assumes the presidency on an interim basis.
In the final vote, Balcazar secured 64 votes, while right-wing congresswoman Maria del Carmen Alva received 46, according to RPP Noticias.
Balcazar, now the oldest president in Peru's history, will remain in office until July 28, when he must transfer power to the winner of the April 12 presidential election.
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