In brief
President Santiago Peña will remain in office after a joint session of Congress could not confirm his resignation due to a lack of quorum. The Chamber of Deputies has approved impeachment charges, and the Senate is set to proceed, amid a crisis sparked by the collapse of digital lender Ueno Bank that left millions stranded.
Paraguay’s president, Santiago Peña, will remain in office after a joint session of Congress failed to approve his resignation due to a lack of quorum, the Xinhua news agency reported on November 6.
The joint sitting was suspended when lawmakers from the ruling Colorado Party walked out during the vote, preventing Congress from reaching a decision on Peña’s resignation.
A day earlier, the Chamber of Deputies unanimously approved impeachment charges against Peña as a result of a political crisis triggered by the collapse of the digital lender Ueno Bank, which left millions of customers unable to access their accounts.
Senate President Basilio Nunez announced that the upper house would proceed with the impeachment process, leaving the formal procedures to move forward.
Peña said in a statement on social media that he would appear before the Senate and exercise his right to defend himself.
He had announced his resignation earlier that Thursday amid mounting pressure over the Ueno Bank failure, but Congress has yet to accept it, leaving him formally in office.
