Peru: Congress rejects early general elections

This Friday, the Peruvian Congress decided to reject the constitutional reform promoted by the country's new president, Dina Boluarte.

The reform sought to bring forward to 2023 the general elections for the president, vice-president and legislators. However, Boluarte's proposal did not advance because it only obtained 49 votes in favor, had 33 against and 35 abstentions. The proposal required 87 votes to move forward.

This implies that the current president should remain as leader of the nation following the constitutional mandate, which indicates that the term would end in 2026. Although Boluarte could leave if she were to resign or if she was compelled to leave through an impeachment process initiated by the Peruvian Congress.

It is worth noting that Peru's first female head of state reportedly intended to bring forward the elections in an attempt to put an end to the social crisis that the country is currently going through, various protests have arisen from those who disagree with the dismissal of Pedro Castillo despite the coup d'état he perpetrated.

"Interpreting in the broadest manner the will of the citizenry and in consequence with the responsibility that the exercise of government action implies, I have decided to assume the initiative to reach an agreement with the Congress of the Republic to advance the general elections to April 2024. In the next few days, I will submit to Congress a bill to bring forward the general elections to be agreed with the political forces represented in the parliament", informed Boluarte.

So far the demonstrations have already left more than 500 people injured and 18 dead and several thousand tourists stranded in some areas of the country such as Cusco.

"We have 5,000 tourists stranded in the city of Cusco, they are in their hotels waiting for flights to be reactivated," Darwin Baca, mayor of the neighboring district of Machu Picchu, recently reported.