May 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Peruvian Congress voted to oust Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi after police were unable to stop a mob from lynching Mayor Cirilo Robles in the southern Andes town of Ilave.

The 120-member Congress voted 62-39 to remove Rospigliosi from office, in the first impeachment of a minister since Alejandro Toledo became president in July 2001. Legislators needed 61 votes to impeach the minister.

``The vote shows the general weakness of Toledo's government,'' said Nelson Manrique, a sociologist at Catholic University in Lima. ``We can expect more protests in the streets of the country.''

A mob of several thousands in Ilave, a southern town of 60,000 located close to the Bolivian border in southern Peru, beat to death the mayor Robles on April 26 after accusing him of corruption. Police didn't intervene to prevent the killing.

Toledo appointed Rospigliosi as Interior Minister in July as part of a cabinet shakeup in July, when Toledo appointed Betriz Merino as prime minister to boost his government's image after his popularity fell 11 percent in the previous month. Pollster Apoyo Opinion y Mercado SA showed the president approval rating had dropped to 8 percent in April.

Alliance?

``The respectful democratic game doesn't weaken the government. There will be a new minister and we will continue working,'' said Cabinet Chief Carlos Ferrero, 63, in a press conference in Congress.

Although some legislators yelled ``Now it's Toledo's turn,'' after the vote against Rospigliosi, Manrique said no political alliance is forming in Congress to put an end to Toledo's government.

``Instead, we cannot totally rule out a violent burst comparable to what happened in Bolivia or in Ecuador,'' he said.

Last October, Bolivian president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada was forced to resign and leave the country after plans to export natural gas to Mexico and the U.S. sparked deadly riots.