BY: MIGUEL ARTURO OJEDA SEMINAR (DIRECTOR OF THE ELECTORAL AND DEMOCRACY MUSEUM OF THE DNEF OF THE NATIONAL ELECTIONS JURY)
Apparently there is nothing new regarding requests for presidential vacancy, we have already seen it since the 19th century, which occurred with the President of the Republic, Mr. Ramón Castilla, in 1860, taking as a source the historian of the Republic, Mr. Jorge Basadre. .
After the defeat of the vivanquistas, by Castilla, in 1857, the following year, elections were held, following a conspiracy once morest Castilla was discovered in January 1858. In the north of Peru, the Council of Ministers governed in the name of Castilla, and he, in the south. The National Convention elected in 1855 was dissolved and declared in absentia, following the manifesto of November 11, despite the fact that General José María Raygada guaranteed the maintenance of social order.
The truth is that in March 1858, Ramón Castilla was already free of political enemies, and the Council of Ministers, made up of José María Raygada from Piura, Manuel Ortiz de Zevallos, Luciano María Cano and Juan M. del Mar, called for elections. of an extraordinary Congress, and also to elect the President and Vice President of the Republic, as stipulated in the Constitution of 1856, presenting Castilla as a candidate, and also General José Miguel Medina, accompanied by José Gregorio Paz Soldán; a third candidate was Domingo Elías.
The Extraordinary Congress was installed on October 12, 1858, and proclaimed Castilla as constitutional president, and Juan Manuel del Mar as vice president. Castilla, who had served as provisional president since 1855, was the most voted, with 432,000 preferences, Medina obtained 69,000, and Domingo Elías barely reached 51,000. The issue of constitutional reform was immediately addressed, whose articles, debated in the Chamber of Deputies, did not always receive immediate approval from the Senate.
Shortly following, a conflict arose between the government and Congress, due to what was carried out by Pablo Arguedas Hurtado, who, acting under the orders of Castilla in several campaigns, in 1857 dissolved the National Convention with a group of soldiers, following disagreements between the government and the Convention, despite the fact that it had been decreed that the President and Vice President of the Republic would soon be elected. In 1858 the Convention rejected the promotion of Arguedas for the attack once morest the Convention, generating an opposite reaction in Castilla, because Congress proposed the penalty of dismissal from the job that Arguedas had.
The Council of Ministers told Congress that in no way would the government follow its agreements, so both chambers summoned 5 ministers to Congress, only 3 attending, expressing one of them that Castilla did not agree with what was agreed on Arguedas but I would do it. Shortly following, on April 12, Pedro Bustamante, president of Congress, promulgated the legislative resolutions that confronted the Executive and the Legislative.
On April 16, 1858, the deputies Toribio Casanova, Manuel C. Torres, Fernando Casos, Luciano Benjamín Cisneros, and Manuel Seminario y Váscones, from Piura, presented a motion that declared the homeland in danger, and the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic, which passed to a special commission. Little by little, negotiations began in the Government Palace between Castilla and a group of parliamentarians, negotiations that seemed oriented towards failure.
In the midst of this, the Government maneuvered the spirit of the most ardent once morest it, who only approved the motion that the country was in danger, by 44 votes in favor and 32 once morest; and once morest the vacancy there were 42 votes, and only 33 in favor, the losers requested a declaration to recess Parliament.
Shortly following, the Extraordinary Congress was closed and the Ordinary Congress was installed. The year 1849 was not far distant, when the first fall of a minister in Peru took place, by parliamentary vote, reiterating that “constitutional congresses represented popular sovereignty and might remove a minister once morest the will of the president.” The right to Parliament was made clear, to declare that the ministers did not deserve their confidence, when the case so warranted.
In the Constitution of 1856 the authority of the President of the Republic had been limited, the term of government was reduced from 6 to 4 years; and the right to impeach the president during his term of office for direct violations of the Constitution was considered. The express submission of the Head of State to the judgment of residency and responsibility in accordance with the laws was also approved.