Wednesday, February 1, 2023 | 8:52 p.m.
The unicameral Congress of Peru rejected on Wednesday the possibility of bringing forward the general elections for this year, a claim of the majority of public opinion as a way to solve the political crisis that the country is going through.
The project, which needed at least 87 votes to be approved, only got 54 in favor, 68 against and two abstentions.
After a lengthy debate and dozens of speeches, the initiative of Fujimori Hernando Guerra, head of the Constitution Commission, fell far short of the votes it needed, even though part of the day on Tuesday and the hours prior to this session had sought consensus of the other benches.
“We need peace four years before, the country is bleeding to death,” Guerra said, seeking to twist some wills in the compound.
His initiative was complex: he proposed complementary general elections for December of this year, the end of the term of President Dina Boluarte on April 30, 2024 and that the elected president complete the 2021-26 period.
The acting congressmen, meanwhile, would end their representation on April 29, 2024 and the new ones would also assume office to complete their mandate until July 2026.
The initiative seeks to be an alternative to the blocked panorama facing the legislature, which has not been able to respond to the demands of almost two months of protests in the streets, road blockades, attacks on public institutions and the seizure of airports.
The body then rejected, by 52 votes in favor, 58 against and two abstentions, a point of order presented by congressmen Alejandro Cavero and Adriana Tudela (Avanza País) for the complementary elections to be held in April 2024, that is, keeping the date already voted but with shortened mandates for those elected.
Finally, a proposal from Peru Libre, based on a minority opinion and promoted by Jaime Quito (Peru Libre), proposes the advancement of elections for this year but accompanied by a referendum on the need for a Constituent Assembly.
This initiative will be discussed this Thursday at 10 (12 in Argentina), although it will hardly prosper, because the right-wing benches refuse to open the chance for a constitutional reform.
However, the plenary session of parliament continued this afternoon to debate alternative initiatives.
In December, shortly after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo and the assumption of Dina Boluarte in his place, Congress had approved bringing the elections forward to April 2024, but the persistence of the protests forced the president to demand another advance.
Congress had suspended last night for the third time, since Friday, the session to debate and vote on the advance, divided by the interest of the left-wing benches in conditioning their vote in exchange for a referendum to form a Constituent Assembly.
This initiative will be discussed this Thursday at 10 (12 in Argentina), although it will hardly prosper, because the right-wing benches refuse to open the chance for a constitutional reform.
However, the plenary session of parliament continued this afternoon to debate alternative initiatives.
In December, shortly after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo and the assumption of Dina Boluarte in his place, Congress had approved bringing the elections forward to April 2024, but the persistence of the protests forced the president to demand another advance.
Congress had suspended last night for the third time, since Friday, the session to debate and vote on the advance, divided by the interest of the left-wing benches in conditioning their vote in exchange for a referendum to form a Constituent Assembly.
Parallel to the political crisis, protests continued on Wednesday in parts of the country, including downtown Lima; in the southern Andean region of the country, with road blockades and mobilizations in Puno, in the southeast region.
Sutran, the supervisory body for national land transportation services, registered 81 points with interrupted vehicular traffic in 6 regions of the country.
There were mobilizations this Wednesday in Arequipa, Puno, Junín, Huancayo and Cajamarca, and in Lima, where the Police stopped a truck carrying homemade shields, according to the website of the newspaper La República, and arrested two people.
Source: Telam
