By Daniela Desantis
ASUNCION (Reuters) – Paraguayan opposition lawmakers launched a bid on Wednesday to impeach President Mario Abdo over the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, though the motion appeared to be well short of the votes needed to formally start the process.
Abdo’s conservative government has faced fierce protests in recent weeks as a surge in COVID-19 cases has left hospitals on the brink of collapse and out of drugs, while the country has been slow to secure vaccines.
Opposition lawmakers in the lower house of deputies put forward the motion to impeach Abdo. Fifty-three votes are required for it to pass, but they have around 37.
“We need 16 more votes,” Deputy Celeste Amarilla from the Liberal Party, involved in writing the motion, told reporters. “But we are not looking for votes, we … are presenting this suit, because (people) took to the streets to ask for it.”
The push, however unlikely to succeed, adds pressure on Abdo’s government, which has been forced to shuffle several ministers, including the health minister and chief of staff, to help calm public anger.
(Reporting by Daniela Desantis; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Richard Chang)
