LIMA: Peru's President Dina Boluarte on Wednesday appointed a center-right diplomat as her new prime minister, after his predecessor resigned amid a scandal in which he allegedly gave favours to a love interest.
The lawyer Gustavo Adrianzen takes over from Alberto Otarola, who quit Tuesday after the release of audio recordings in which he allegedly lovingly addresses a young woman who snapped up two government contracts.
The 57-year-old Adrianzen previously served as Peru's representative to the Organisation of American States in Washington.
From this post, he defended the government during a crackdown on mass protests that erupted in December 2022 when Boluarte took office after former president Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, leading to his quick ouster and arrest.
"Adrianzen's political profile is very similar to that of his predecessor. I don't expect any change," political analyst Jose Carlos Requena told the N channel broadcaster.
In the latest political turmoil to hit Peru -- which is on its sixth president in six years -- the television program Panorama released what it said were recordings of Otarola in conversation with a woman named Yazire Pinedo, 25.
In one of the recordings, a man alleged to be the prime minister says to her: "tell me, then, my love, so we can talk.
You know these things are annoying, they are a pain, but you also know that I love you," apparently referring to the red tape involved in bidding for a government gig.
Pinedo landed two contracts this year worth a total of US$14,000 to do archive and administrative work for the government.
Otarola -- who is 57 and married -- has denied any wrongdoing, and Pinedo said the leaked conversations were from 2021, before he was a cabinet minister.
Pinedo acknowledged having had a brief "perhaps sentimental relationship" with him.
The scandal forced Otarola to interrupt an official trip to Canada and return home.
Prosecutors said they will probe him for possible conflict of interest and "illegal sponsorship." -- AFP