Peru’s president resigns amid scandal

LIMA, Peru — Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned Wednesday after political opponents released video and audio recordings that they say implicate the 79-year-old leader in a vote-buying scheme to avoid impeachment.

In a video message to the nation, Kuczynski said he was resigning immediately because “permanent political confrontation” had made the country ungovernable.

“Confronted by this difficult situation in which they have unjustly made me appear culpable of things in which I didn’t participate, I think it’s best that I resign the presidency,” Kuczynski said.

He added, “I don’t want to block the path of harmony that the nation so badly needs and which was denied to me. I don’t want the country or my family to continue suffering the uncertainty of recent times.”

Kuczynski’s departure ends a long-running political battle with Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of disgraced former President Alberto Fujimori and the leader of the Popular Force majority faction in Congress. Kuczynski defeated her in the 2016 presidential race.

A former World Bank economist and Wall Street banker who had never run for public office, Kuczynski ran a campaign based on a promises to clean up a government beset by corruption.

On Tuesday, Fujimori released seven excerpts from video and audio recordings in which lawmakers allied with Kuczynski allegedly promised public works projects in districts of members of the opposition party in exchange for their support in last year’s impeachment proceedings. Kuczynski narrowly escaped impeachment on “moral incapacity” charges in December.