The current president of the Andean country, who took office after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo at the end of 2022, was initially open to advancing the elections in her country to 2024. However, now she maintains that the issue is “closed “and that he has decided to finish his term and that his presidency last until 2026.
First modification:
The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, affirmed this Thursday that a possible advance of elections in her country “is closed” and she will fulfill the mandate, for which she was elected as vice president with the formula led by the dismissed Pedro Castillo, which must conclude the July 28, 2026.
“This issue of early elections is closed, we will continue working responsibly, and in this respect for the rule of law, democracy and the Constitution until July 2026,” he remarked.
Boluarte made this statement, the first in which he pronounced himself emphatically on the subject, after a session of the Council of Ministers was held at the Government Palace in Lima.
Congress has ruled against advancing the elections
On previous occasions, the president had affirmed that the possible advancement of elections in her country was in the hands of Congress, which has rejected that possibility up to five times in the last months after the crisis.
The electoral advance was one of the main demands of the anti-government protests that began in the Andean country last December, with a balance of dozens of deaths in clashes with the security forces.
The demonstrators also demanded the resignation of Boluarte, the closure of Congress and the calling of a Constituent Assembly.
In an attempt to put an end to this crisis scenario, which began after the dismissal of Castillo on December 7 for attempting a coup, the Boluarte government sent a bill to advance the elections while the Legislature also presented a number of proposals in that direction.
However, until last March, both the Constitution Commission and the plenary session of Congress rejected at least five attempts to advance the elections to December of this year.
While the left-wing benches conditioned their support for the electoral advance to the inclusion of the consultation on a Constituent Assembly, the right-wing legislators, who dominate the unicameral Peruvian Congress, assured that a series of constitutional reforms must first be discussed and implemented, among them the return to a Parliament with the chambers of Senators and Deputies.
The protests asking for the electoral advance return
The ruling’s pronouncement occurred while social and civil organizations from the south of the country announced that this June 19 they will arrive in the Peruvian capital to participate in a demonstration called the “Take of Lima.”
The Peruvian National Police (PNP) announced this Thursday that it will deploy some 8,000 agents on the streets of Lima to monitor some 5,000 people who are estimated to be participating in the protests.
During the anti-government mobilizations that took place between December and March, a total of 77 deaths were reported, 49 of them in clashes between protesters and security forces.
Boluarte criticized this Wednesday the call for new protests and asked himself “how many more deaths do they want?”, regarding the protesters.
“I call these people who are once again announcing the ‘third takeover of Lima’ or the ‘new takeover of Peru’, how many more deaths do you want for the love of God, does it not hurt your soul to have lost more than 60 people in these violent demonstrations? None of these deaths has been caused or sought by the government,” Boluarte cried.
He added that these deaths have only benefited those who were asking for his resignation and that his government “is working without robbing the people,” is respectful of the institutions and the Constitution, and they are not “going to please” those who accuse them of being “a civil-military government”.
