Peru president wants to consider early elections, says not time for constituent assembly

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte said on Friday she was willing to talk to the country’s political and civil forces about early elections, but said that right now is not the time to hold a parliament that would change the constitution.

Boluarte, who took office on Wednesday following the ousting of Pedro Castillo, has called for calm in the country amid some protests in support of the former president and calls for early general elections in the country.

“If society and the situation justify holding early elections, we will sit down and talk with the democratic and political forces in Congress,” Boluarte told reporters as he was leaving his home in Lima. government palace.

Footage broadcast early on local television shows part of the main highway on the Peruvian coast 300 kilometers south of Lima blockaded by hundreds of farmers demanding early elections.

Other protests, albeit moderate, took place on Thursday in some streets of Lima and in cities in the interior of the country, with similar demands and support for Castillo.

Boluarte, a 60-year-old lawyer who was Castillo’s vice president, has become the country’s first woman to assume the presidency, and is constitutionally required to complete her current term by 2026.

“I did not cause this situation, I am fulfilling the constitutional role here alone (…) let’s seek a peaceful solution.”

Regarding the demands of some left parties and a segment of the population to convene a constituent assembly to draft a new Constitution, the President said that this is a deferred demand that should not be abandoned.

“But I don’t think this is the right time, Peru is going through a political crisis right now and it is necessary to resolve its economic and food crisis,” said Boluarte.

The president also said he plans to visit Castillo in prison, “whose coup has taken us all by surprise, including his ministers.”

“I want to visit it and find out what’s going on,” said Boluarte.