Peru’s Congress rejects for the third time the call for elections in 2023

The Peruvian Congress rejected on Thursday, Feb. 2, a bill to call general elections still in 2023, which also included a referendum on forming a Constituent Assembly, two of the main demands of the anti-government protests.

The rejection is already the third in this regard.

With 48 votes in favor, 75 against, and one abstention, the bill from thfell far short of the 87 votes needed to take off the paper an initiative that proposed elections for president, congressmen, and congresswomen on the second Sunday of July.

The long debate took place after the rejection last Wednesday, Jan. 1, of another bill that proposed holding complementary elections in December of this year, implying the choice of new representatives in the Executive and Legislative branches to complete the period that began in 2021 and ends in 2026.

The last proposal rejected was authored by the president of the Constitution Commission of the Congress, the fujimorista Hernando Guerra García.

The demands for early elections and a Constituent Assembly are two of the strongest demands of the demonstrators opposing the government of Dina Boluarte, who assumed the presidency of Peru after former President Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting a self-strike and shutting down the country’s Congress.

Peru’s Public Ombudsman confirmed on Thursday, Feb. 2, that there had been 65 deaths in the protests since they began in late 2022.

The casualty count increased to include a minor, who died in a road-blocking incident during the Dec. 12 anti-government protests in Caylloma, Arequipa department.

The minor died together with his mother, prosecutor Marizel Leonize Chamana, in a traffic accident that occurred on the road affected by clashes, according to local press reports.