Lower House Approves President's Impeachment Trial

The Chilean Chamber of Deputies has approved the motion for an impeachment trial to go ahead against President Sebastian Pinera. The motion now moves onto the Senate where a two-thirds majority is required to convict the president and remove him from office.

• The impeachment effort comes in the wake of allegations of corruption levelled at Pinera following the release of the 'Pandora Papers'. The opposition alleges that there were bribes paid and taxes evaded as part of the sale of a mining company which supposedly had links to a firm controlled by the Pinera family.
• With only two weeks left until the first round of the presidential election, it is unclear whether there will be enough time for the Senate to go through its procedures to seek to remove Pinera in time. Moreover, with over a third of Senators hailing from Pinera's centre-right Chile Vamos coalition, it is very unlikely that the measure to remove Pinea from office will pass.