Peru: Two parliamentary groups propose to reduce presidential term and bring forward elections

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two Peruvian parliamentary groups, one of them the ruling Peru Libre, presented on Thursday two constitutional reform bills that propose to reduce the term of office of President Pedro Castillo and the Parliament until 2023 and to bring forward the elections to choose their successors that year.

The bench of the leftist Peru Libre presented a bill proposing to reduce the term of President Castillo and the congress members to only two years, until July 28, 2023, after having been elected in 2021 for a five-year term.

The bill, whose author is legislator Pasión Dávila, entered Congress on April 28 and proposes a constitutional reform to modify the term of office of the President of the Republic, the Vice President, Dina Boluarte, and the 130 congressmen elected in the general elections of 2021.

This initiative is presented three days after the head of State sent to the Legislative another constitutional reform project to carry out a referendum next October, where the population will be consulted on whether it approves the call for a constituent assembly to draft a new Constitution.

According to the bill in its explanatory memorandum, the leftist party justified the reduction of the presidential term in the “crisis of legitimacy” in the political environment.

Likewise, it cited surveys in which 60% of the population supports an eventual advance of elections, the reason for which it proposes the need to lead to a democratic transition to get out of the political confrontation between the Executive and the Legislature.

The pro-government party assures that this initiative will “strengthen” Peru’s political and democratic system because the shortening of the presidential and legislative mandate constitutes “a constitutional and democratic solution”.

In addition, it is argued that it seeks to strengthen the legitimacy of the representation and the conservation of the positions of the authorities elected by the popular vote.

In parallel to this bill, the legislator Digna Calle, elected by the opposition party Podemos Perú, also presented, on April 28, a constitutional reform bill that shortens the presidential and parliamentary mandate until July 2023 and proposes to bring forward the elections to March 2023.

The legislator also mentioned the current political crisis, the citizens’ discontent, and the convulsion generated by social protests as a reason to present this initiative.

Calle added that the proposal for a new governor and new legislators to take office in July 2023 would allow a “peaceful solution” to the political and economic crisis that the country has been experiencing since Castillo was sworn in on July 28, 2021.

With information from EFE