Peru: Congress refused to advance elections

After yesterday Peruvian President Dina Boluarte expressed her desire that Congress authorize the advance of the elections for 2023 and thus “pave a way out of the political crisis”, today it was known that finally the Parliament rejected this initiative. “We regret that the Congress of the Republic has not managed to agree to define the date of the general elections, where Peruvians can freely and democratically elect the new authorities,” they wrote from the Twitter account of the Presidency of Peru. And they added: “We urge the caucuses to put aside their partisan interests and place the interests of Peru above it.” The proposal was presented by legislator Hernando Guerra García, a member of the right-wing Popular Force party, and was defeated by 65 votes that opposed advancing the elections against 45 who voted in favor. This means that, at least for the moment, the project to vote for a new president in April 2024 remains in force.Since Boluarte took office on December 7 after Congress dismissed Pedro Castillo, in Peru a series of protests were unleashed that still do not cease and have already claimed the lives of 46 civilians and a policeman. In this context, the current president had asked that the elections be brought forward to December of this year to get out faster from the “quagmire” that exists in different parts of the country but her request did not transcend. In any case, the proposal that was voted on today and that proposed to advance the elections to October, will be submitted for reconsideration on Monday, but it is estimated that the result will not be reversed.

Original source in Spanish