Interim Peruvian President Sworn In

L I M A, Peru, Nov. 22 -- Peru’s Congress leader Valentin Paniagua was sworn in as the country’s interim president today, replacing disgraced Alberto Fujimori after the legislature dismissed him and declared him “morally unfit.”

Paniagua, seen as a moderate member of the oppositionduring Fujimori’s rule, took the oath of interim presidentbefore a packed chamber. He has a mandate to lead Peru intoearly elections in April after a decade of Fujimori’s hardline rule in the Andean nation.

He will hand over the presidency to the winner of thegeneral elections on July 28.

A 64-year-old constitutional lawyer, Paniagua is expected todraw consensual support in this polarized country ahead of the elections — called four years early after Fujimori decided to quit office in the face of an escalating corruption scandal.

Fujimori, who quit on Monday, was never able to recoverfrom a nine-week political crisis centered on his fugitiveformer spy chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. Both Fujimori’s vice presidents have also resigned.

Fujimori is in Japan and has not said when he will return.

Fujimori’s Resignation Rejected

On Tuesday, an irate Congress rejected Fujimori’s resignation and instead declared him “morally unfit” and removed him as head of state — the first time such a censure had occurred in Peruvian history.

During the debate, Fujimori’s defenders — their ranksdepleted by defections of six lawmakers in the wake of hisabsentee resignation — were drowned out by contemptuousopposition congressmen shouting “shame,” “immorality” and “sin”— referring to the president.

A passing reference to Fujimori’s accomplishments drew onlya ripple of applause in a chamber that had kowtowed to him forthe past eight years.

Fujimori tendered his resignation on Monday while holed upin a plush Tokyo hotel. The whereabouts of Montesinos, who sparked Fujimori’s fallfrom grace with a bribery scandal, remain a mystery.