Succession is unclear after Peru's Fujimori resigns

Fujimori waves during a military parade in Lima, Peru, in this July photo

LIMA, Peru (Reuters) -- Peru was effectively without a president Tuesday with two possible candidates for the post after the resignation of both scandal-plagued President Alberto Fujimori, holed up in Japan, and his choice as successor.

One of two politicians from different sides of the political spectrum was now likely to become interim president until April elections: either Fujimori's former running mate, Francisco Tudela, or the moderate opposition head of Congress, Valentin Paniagua.

Fujimori's exit, which ended 10 years of hard-line rule, was followed by the resignation on Monday of Second Vice-President Ricardo Marquez, who said he wanted "to bring stability" by stepping aside. It put the opposition a step closer to gaining Peru's leadership.

It was not clear whether Tudela would do so. Although he quit as first vice president in October, Congress never formally accepted the resignation, which has left him first in line under the constitution to assume the presidency.

But Peru's opposition, which last week gained control of Congress for the first time in eight years, has insisted on its man, Paniagua.

VIDEO CNN's Anand Naidoo reports on Fujimori's resignation Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)     RESOURCES Alberto Fujimori pictoral timeline: a decade in power   MESSAGE BOARD Peru in transition     ALSO Former Peruvian President Fujimori says he hopes to remain in Japan for now

"I hope Paniagua will be confirmed tomorrow (Tuesday) as president of a transitional government," main opposition leader Alejandro Toledo told local Panamericana television.

Toledo flew back from Spain after news Sunday that Fujimori would resign following a two-month political crisis sparked by corruption allegations against his former spy chief and top aide Vladimiro Montesinos.

Toledo says he was cheated of victory in elections this year when he claims Fujimori rigged a third-term win.

Tainted by bribery allegations against Montesinos, Fujimori said in September that he was slashing his five-year term to one year and would quit in July after new elections in April.

But Fujimori said in a resignation letter to lawmakers that he felt the need to step down even earlier to keep Peru from spiraling out of control before scheduled April elections. "Without (my resignation), the country would be committing suicide," the son of Japanese immigrants wrote.

The unraveling was a dismal finale for Fujimori, 62, who won praise in his 10 years in office as a brave, hands-on leader who beat leftist rebels and curbed hyperinflation but whose government had one of the region's worst rights records.

Contender is cautious

Tudela, who resigned to protest the influence of former spy chief Montesinos in Peru, said on Monday he might assume the presidency.

"I would have to think about it. I am not ruling out or affirming anything," Tudela, a former foreign minister expected to be a candidate in the April elections, told reporters. But he made no comment since Marquez's resignation late Monday.

Tudela, 45, who has also served as ambassador to the United Nations, won prominence as a key hostage in the 1996-97 siege of the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima by leftist rebels of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).

If Tudela refused the presidency -- a necessary condition for him to be able to run in April -- Paniagua would become president, bringing the opposition to power after 10 years of Fujimori.

Paniagua speaks on Monday during a news conference at the Congress in Lima

Paniagua, 64, is a respected constitutional lawyer who was expected to draw consensus support in this polarized Andean nation.

Fujimori's undoing proved to be a videotape showing his close aide, Montesinos, apparently bribing an opposition lawmaker.

Charges against Montesinos have since ballooned to accusations that he amassed more than $50 million by money-laundering and ran a mafia that operated death squads and tortured government opponents.

Fujimori remained holed up in a luxury hotel in Tokyo three days after arriving in Japan, where his parents were born. He has not said if he has decided to return from Japan.

A local government official there said Fujimori was eligible to remain because he has Japanese nationality -- his right under Japanese law thanks to his parents entering his name on their ancestral family register.

Many Peruvians believe that Fujimori, out of sight and guarded by police, has fled Lima to avoid being investigated as part of probes of Montesinos.

Japan's Foreign Ministry said Fujimori had not asked for a Japanese passport or applied for asylum but added that it did not know when he would leave.

A spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, Mary Ellen Countryman, said in Washington that the Peruvian government had informed the United States that Fujimori planned to stay in Japan "indefinitely."

News of his resignation, which triggered the resignation of a Cabinet highly critical of Fujimori, opened the chance of more economic pain as well as a potential power vacuum.

Outgoing Economy Minister Carlos Bolona will stay on as a caretaker minister but it was unclear who would replace the fiscal hawk -- generally trusted by foreign investors -- who pushed for spending cuts in an economy suffering from slow growth and a widening budget deficit.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Embassy of Peru in the U.S.

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