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No-confidence vote in Peru forces Cabinet resignations

Peru Shining Path Rodrigo Abd AP AP FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2017 photo, Peru's President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, center, gestures during a ceremony commemorating 25 years of the capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman, outside the National Palace in Lima, Peru. (Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press)
Associated Press
Peru Shining Path Rodrigo Abd AP AP FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2017 photo, Peru's President, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, center, gestures during a ceremony commemorating 25 years of the capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman, outside the National Palace in Lima, Peru. (Rodrigo Abd / Associated Press)

LIMA, Peru – Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s entire Cabinet has been forced to resign following a no-confidence vote Friday by the opposition-led congress, throwing the country into political turmoil.

The pre-dawn vote followed a heated debate in which lawmakers insulted Kuczynski’s prime minister and called for his education minister to resign due to her handling of a 60-day teachers’ strike.

Instead of ceding to the demand, Kuczynski requested a vote of confidence in his entire cabinet, which he lost by a wide margin.

It was the first time under Peru’s 1993 constitution that the single-chamber legislature has taken such a step.

Kuczynski was defiant, saying on Twitter that “we won’t give in … for the sake for the children, for Peru and for governability.”

Still, the 78-year-old former businessman said he was suspending plans to travel to New York next week for the U.N. General Assembly while he tries to form a new cabinet.

Under Peru’s constitution, he must replace his prime minister but can reappoint the other 18 members of his cabinet. If lawmakers do not ratify his picks, he would have the option of dissolving congress and calling new parliamentary elections.

The legislature is dominated by supporters of former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who narrowly lost to Kuczynski in last year’s election. She is the daughter of former strongman Alberto Fujimori, who governed Peru for a decade until 2000.