Crisis in Peru: Congress maneuvers and rejects the project to bring forward the elections

urged by 20 dead in protests and with police and military repression in the south of the country and the resignation of two ministers from her new cabinet, Peru’s new president, Dina Boluarte, has received another blow.

The congress rejected the term cut and the progress of the elections for December 2023 which had been proposed by the replacement of Pedro Castillo, fired and imprisoned in prison for attempting a coup.

This was the President’s letter to try to calm the protesters of the coup plotter Castillo who, in addition to his release, are asking for the elections to be brought forward.

The Peru Libre party to which the deposed president and Boluarte belonged, a communist formation with notoriously archaic ideas which also voted against, adds as a condition for supporting the project the appeal to a constitutional convention. They want to write another constitution. If the request is not accepted, the protests that threaten the precarious stability of the president will continue.

It is now not only controlled from the street, but also seems to be trapped by discredited MPs trying to stay in their seats. The crux is that of the progress of the elections comprises the 130 legislators of the unicameral Congress.

​The bill provided for the shortening of the mandate of the interim executive and legislative in April 2024 – they have a term until July 2026 – and elections in December 2023. For this he called for 87 votes in two sessions or 66 votes then ratified by referendum. Neither alternative has been achieved.

The spokesman for the initiative was the president of the Constitution Commission, Hernando Guerra, from Fujimori, ma the motion failed. It received 49 votes in favour, 33 against and 25 abstentions. Additionally, 23 lawmakers did not participate.

The “left” benches. they rejected the proposal and they have embraced the somewhat exotic request in the circumstance of a new Constitutional Charter. In addition to Perú Libre, the Bloque Magisterial, Cambio Democrático, Perú Democrático and Perú Bicentenario were increasing this demand.

That battle has combined on the other side with the interest of lawmakers from other forces to reach agreements allowing for re-election to pave the way for retaining seats. But it is clear that the right will support the latter but in no way will it accept the constitutional claim.

There is a slot to vote again the progress of the election. The reconsideration of the vote on the project was pending, so it could be addressed again, but the session has been adjourned and there is no confirmation for the restart. In the meantime, they’ve decided extend the ordinary sessions until the end of January.

In the face of this panorama, to which are added the resignations of two emergency appointed ministers on Saturday, Boluarte appears to be in check and in the last two public appearances she has been surrounded by the military.

“Neither violence nor radicalism will end legal and legitimate government. There is no room for fear, but for courage, ”he said. This Friday the police with the help of the armed forces. (See separate) violent protesters repressed in Ayacucho, which in Inca means “The corner of the dead”.

Before Congress rejected the snap elections, Boluarte confirmed he would travel to violent parts of the country, but did not provide a date. “I summoned the heads of the Catholic, Christian and Evangelical churches to set up a dialogue table in each of the regions that have mobilised”.

In his speech he strengthened the idea that it is passing by emphasizing that it is a “transitional government”. This Saturday he will receive the regional governors.

The coup plotter Castillo, who received an 18-month sentence in pre-trial detention yesterday, was transferred at 3 am on Friday to the Barbadillo prison, 25 kilometers east of Lima. After the move he did not publish any more letters.

“Peru cannot stop. Let’s unite and move forward to have a light at the end of the tunnel. The light of peace, hope and order that the country deserves”, Boluarte concluded yesterday, in a tunnel that seems to have an ever more distant exit.

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