Peruvian president accepts full cabinet resignation

LIMA, Oct 10, 2008 (AFP)

Peruvian President Alan Garcia accepted Friday the resignation of his entire 13-member cabinet, in a bid to avert an opposition censure resolution in Congress over a oil-industry kickback scandal.

"The president has accepted our resignations presented to him on Thursday, and will proceed to reshuffle the cabinet," outgoing prime minister Jorge del Castillo told reporters at government headquarters.

The kickback scandal has been roiling since Sunday when nine audio tapes were leaked to news media covering backroom negotiations between government officials, a former congressman and a top oil baron, in a bid-rigging scheme to have Norway's Discover Petroleum win five oil exploration concessions last month.

The outrage over the alleged kickback scheme fueled a media and opposition campaign to drive Garcia's government out of office, with former presidential candidate Lourdes Flores insisting that any delay in the resignations "will make matters worse."

Leftist National Party leader Ollanta Humala said the case pointed to "serious responsibility on the part of the entire cabinet."

Opposition lawmakers had scheduled a vote on a censure resolution against del Castillo for Tuesday, which was expected to pass given the minority status of Garcia's governing APRA party in Congress.

The political crisis coincides with Garcia's very low, 20 percent approval rating in opinion polls. Garcia is mid-way through his second five-year term in office, which ends in 2011, after serving as president in 1985-1990.