Crisis in Peru: Boluarte has said that if Congress does not bring forward the elections, he will go for a constitutional reform

The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, convened Congress on Sunday evening to approve the progress of the general election for October this year as a way to reverse the crisis the country is going through, and he announced that, if parliament does not grant his request, it will promote constitutional reforms to achieve this goal.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the Congress must understand their historical responsibility, tomorrow they have the opportunity to earn the country’s trust by satisfying this long-awaited request from the Peruvian people,” Boluarte said in a message to the nation.

“Vote for Peru, in favor of the country, bringing forward the elections to 2023 and we tell all of Peru with the utmost responsibility that we are all leaving,” he said.

If the refusal of early elections is re-imposed (as happened in the first ballot, which it was done on saturday at dawn), Boluarte said he will present a reform of the constitution to carry out the elections, with the first round in October this year and the second in December.

He will also propose a bill for the next elected parliament to delegate powers to the Constitutions Commission on the total reform of the fundamental charter of 1993, when the power was exercised by President Alberto Fujimori, now imprisoned for crimes of corruption and repression of city protests.

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Boluarte addressed the country just hours before Congress is due to discuss the request a reconsider the refusal decided on Saturday early elections in October this year, with a majority of 65 votes to 45.

In addition, Saturday’s protest in Lima calling for Boluarte’s resignation and elections as soon as possible put pressure on the government after the registration the most violent episodes so far in the Peruvian capital, where a protester died from the impact of a heavy object on his head, indicates the medical report.

With this new victim the death toll rose to 48 at demonstrations since the protests began in December, including a police officer. In addition, the Guarantor’s Office adds another 10 deaths related to the protests, especially in the blocks of dozens of paths that have accentuated shortage of food and fuel Most of the country.

“The responsibility for approving the progress of the elections for this year 2023 rests with the Congress of the Republic. For this reason, I announce that if the consensus does not prosper tomorrow (…) the Executive will present two initiatives on the matter of urgency”, he emphasized the president.

For seven weeks, Peru has been the scene of demonstrations demanding the resignation of Boluarte, who took office as vice president after the ousting and arrest of leftist President Pedro Castillo on December 7 for attempting to dissolve parliamentafter going through more than a dozen Congressional vacancy attempts.

The protests and roadblocks demanding Boluarte’s resignation, the progress of the elections and, to a lesser extent, the convening of a constituent assembly they give no respite and generate scarcity fuel, food and medical supplies.

AFP extension

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