Peru's president dissolved Congress hours before he faced an impeachment trial and is now calling to rewrite the country's constitution

• Peruvian President Pedro Castillo said Wednesday that he will dissolve the nation's Congress.
• The embattled president made the annoucement hours before he was set to face an impeachment trial.
• Castillo assumed office a year ago and has so far survived two impeachment attempts.

Embattled Peruvian President Pedro Castillo announced on Wednesday that he will dissolve the nation's Congress just hours before he was set to face a third impeachment trial. 

Castillo, speaking during a televised address from the presidential palace in Peru's capital of Lima, called for new legislative elections and said he will install an emergency government. He also called for the country's constitution to be rewritten.

"In response to the clamor from citizens throughout the country, we make the decision to establish an emergency government aimed at restoring the rule of law and democracy," Castillo said, Reuters reported. 

Castillo, who assumed office more than a year ago and has so far survived two impeachment attempts, said he would rule by decree and declared a national nightly curfew starting Wednesday, according to the Associated Press. 

The president pushed the Andean nation into a fresh political crisis just before lawmakers were scheduled to try for a third time to unseat him from office. 

Castillo's foes in Congress have claimed that he has shown a "permanent moral incapacity" to govern, according to the AP, which noted that it was unclear whether lawmakers had enough votes required to impeach him. 

A certain portion of Congress, Castillo said in his speech, "has as its only agenda item removing me from office because they never accepted the results of an election that you, my dear Peruvians, determined with your votes," the AP reported. 

Castillo's announcement prompted resignations by multiple cabinet members including, Foreign Affairs Minister Cesar Landa.

"I have decided to irrevocably resign from the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, given the decision of President Castillo to close Congress... violating the Constitution," said Landa, according to Reuters.

Castillo is currently facing several ongoing investigations alleging corruption.