Sagasti is a member of the centrist Purple Party and has held positions at the World Bank
The Congress of Peru has elected Francisco Sagasti, from the Morado Party, as president of the Chamber and therefore interim president of the country after the dismissal of Martín Vizcarra and the resignation of Manuel Merino after six days of intense protests.
“Today is not a day of celebration, because we have seen the death of two young people in protest,” Sagasti declared after his appointment as president of the Congress, at the same time that he announced that Congress and the Government must adopt “whatever actions are necessary. necessary “so that there is no violent police repression in peaceful demonstrations.
“The pandemic, the economic crisis, the problems of insecurity were not enough, we had to wait for the death of two young people so that (…) it motivates us to work in a more determined way and achieve a more just and equitable development,” he said. added.
Congressmen have supported the appointment of the list headed by Sagasti, the only one presented. Sagasti is accompanied by Mirtha Vásquez (from the Frente Amplio), Luis Roel (Alliance for Progress) and Matilde Fernández (We are Peru).
The vote has supported the choice of Sagasti’s list with 97 votes and 26 against. Congress has 130 seats, so his election has wide support.
Upon reaching 60 votes, even with open voting, the congressmen present began to applaud Sagasti. When it came time to cast his vote, the congressman supported the list and said “thank you very much everyone.”
After the vote, Sagasti was sworn in as the new president of Parliament and Mirtha Vásquez did the same as the first vice president of the Legislature. Given the political situation and taking into account the Constitution of Peru, Sagasti will automatically be appointed president of Peru and Vásquez will be the president of Congress.
ECONOMIST AND POLITICAL
Francisco Rafael Sagasti Hochhausler is the founder and member of the Partido Morado, a centrist group. He was a candidate for Congress in the 2020 complementary elections, when he was elected by Lima with the number 1.
His motto was “Make decent politics, fight corruption and political reform.” He is the spokesperson for the Purple Party in Congress and chairs the Parliament’s Science, Innovation and Technology Commission.
He also participated in the 2016 presidential campaign alongside the leader of the Purple Party, Julio Guzmán, under the political group Todos por el Perú. Then he was a candidate for Lima at number seven on the list, but the Special Electoral Jury declared Julio Guzmán’s candidacy inadmissible, presumably due to irregular acts of internal democracy in the party.
For the general elections of 2021, he is a pre-candidate for the second vice presidency of the Republic for the Purple Party on the list of Julio Guzmán, who is also a member of the former Minister of Education Flor Pablo.
He is an industrial engineer from the National University of Engineering, and has a master’s and doctorate in research and social sciences from Pennsylvania State University.
In 1985 he worked as an advisor alongside the then Foreign Minister, Allan Wagner. In 1987, he was summoned by the World Bank as head of the Strategic Planning Division and he was also the main advisor to the Institution’s Policy Evaluation and External Relations Departments.
He was President of the Board of Directors of the Science and Technology Program during the administrations of the Presidents of the Council of Ministers Oscar Valdés and Juan Jiménez.
He has taught at the Universidad del Pacífico and the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, and abroad at the Madrid Business Institute and the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
He was distinguished with the United Nations Peace Medal and the Paul Hoffman Prize, awarded by the Society for International Development, for his contributions to national and international development. In 2012, he received the medal of the Governor General of Canada for his contribution to strengthening relations between Peru and that country.
