Despite the fact that, at the beginning of March, the president peter castle and the head of the Ministerial Cabinet, Aníbal Torres, denied that the government is going to promote the installation of a constituent assembly, yesterday the Executive, with the signature of both, presented a project that seeks to open the way to a total change of the Constitution to through that mechanism.
The initiative proposes adding one more article to the current Magna Carta, 207, where it is established that “the elaboration and approval” of a new Constitution is in charge of a constituent assembly “elected by the people”, parity and composed of 130 representatives .
And at the same time, it also proposes that a referendum be held on October 2, within the framework of the municipal and regional elections, where the following question is consulted, through a special card, to the citizens: “Do you approve the convocation of a Constituent Assembly in charge of elaborating a new Political Constitution?, with the answer alternatives: Yes or No.
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The representatives of six of the eight benches that have a presence in the Constitution Commission of Congress, where the project must be analyzed and debated, told El Comercio that they will not support this reform promoted by Castillo Terrones. For example, parliamentarian Eduardo Salhuana (APP) indicated that the country requires the president to solve the problems that really concern Peruvians, such as the economic crisis and lack of work.
“No, Alliance for Progress would in no way support that nonsense […] There are permanent highway seizures, social conflicts everywhere, and the president does not come out with this incoherence of a constituent assembly. They themselves had denied that they were going to propose it, this shows us their improvisation, ”he remarked.
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A mechanism to perpetuate oneself in power
Congressman Alejandro Cavero (Avanza País) stated that the convening of a constituent assembly “will not serve to resolve the country’s urgent management problems” and warned that the Executive seeks to use this instance to “perpetuate itself in power” and “open a pandora’s box of instability and chaos.
“They want to blame the Constitution for their own inability, because that is the easy way out and say that it is Congress that is opposed to making profound changes in the country, when that is not true,” he said.
In his turn, the parliamentarian Esdras Medina (Popular Renovation) considered that the initiative of the head of state only seeks to “distract” the country, which is on the verge of economic recession. “Actually what you are looking for [Castillo] it is popularity, confrontation and a reason to close Congress”, he stressed.
From Popular Action, legislator Wilson Soto Palacios argued that the referendum “is not a valid constitutional mechanism” to pave the way for a new Constitution.
“Any act in this sense cannot be approved or protected by Congress. The majority of the population demands that the government attend to basic needs that improve their quality of life, which are not going to be solved with a new Constitution”, he stated.
A similar position was held by the spokesman for Somos Perú, Wilmer Elera, who questioned the fact that the government has become the promoter of the constituent assembly in the midst of the political, social and economic crisis. “We have a big gap in citizen security, crime is winning us over and nobody is taking action on the matter, the mines are blocked and there are economic losses, and instead of dedicating themselves to solving it, they come out with this,” he said.
Castillo Terrones’s initiative does not have support from the entire Peru Libre caucus either. Congresswoman Katy Ugarte, who belongs to the teachers’ bloc, told El Comercio in a personal capacity that “this is not the time” for a constituent process. “In Chile they are in the second year and they cannot conclude, it is not a game to make a new Constitution,” she said.
For her part, the president of the Constitution Commission of Congress, Patricia Juárez (Popular Force), affirmed that the Executive intends to “generate more chaos and social upheaval” with its proposal.
“They want to continue with the dismantling of the State, to say that it does not work and that a new Constitution is required. And this responds to the objective that was outlined from the first day, and that has not been discarded, which is the closure of Congress and the call for a constituent assembly, which will generate an authoritarian policy as in Venezuela and Cuba, “he warned. the.
Juárez indicated that the sole proposal “already generates uncertainty” not only in citizens, but also in small, medium and large businessmen. “Faced with the variation of the rules of the game, they are not going to invest in the country in any way,” he said.
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Earlier, before the government presented the project, the president of Parliament, María del Carmen Alva (Popular Action), said that the initiative for a constituent assembly “is a distraction”, and pointed out that the objective from the beginning of the government de Castillo has been the closing of Congress. She added that the Executive’s proposal is “unconstitutional” and unfeasible”.
He also indicated that if the government “cannot” put the fourth dose of the vaccine against COVID-19, “what Constitution are they going to do?”
For his part, Prime Minister Torres rejected that the Executive had sought the closure of Congress “not even in the most difficult moments,” such as when they tried to vacate Castillo Terrones twice. He added that it is now in the hands of Parliament whether to approve or file the project that seeks to make way for the constitution assembly.
Torres denied that the secretary general of Peru Libre, Vladimir Cerrón, had any influence on the drafting of the initiative.
When asked why he and Castillo have changed their position on the constituent assembly, the chief of staff replied that in each decentralized Council of Ministers, “the population” asks them first of all to change the Magna Carta.
“In Cusco this was accentuated, we can no longer tell the population that we are not going to do it [promover la asamblea constituyente] or keep silent”, he concluded.
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More information
In May of last year, during the second round campaign, Castillo signed the Citizen Proclamation, through which he promised that any change and/or reform of the Constitution “will only be done through the current constitutional mechanisms.”
Cerrón, through his Twitter account, called for a march in Huancayo in favor of the installation of a constituent assembly.
Besides…
The project in four keys
1. The first deadlines
The project includes eight transitory provisions. One of them establishes that the call for the election of the members of the assembly is made by the president, through a supreme decree. The elections must be held within a period of no more than 120 subsequent calendar days. The assembly is installed within a period not exceeding 15 calendar days from the proclamation and accreditation of the elected assembly members by the JNE.
2. Nine months for a new Constitution
The constituent assembly will have nine months to draft and approve the draft of the new Constitution. This period may only be extended for three months. The initiative also indicates that the constituted powers and constitutionally autonomous bodies “cannot in any way impede the decisions” of this institution.
Likewise, the assembly cannot modify the mandate period for which the president and congressmen were elected.
3. The composition of the constituent assembly
The government proposes that the constituent assembly be made up of 130 assembly members. The distribution of seats will be as follows: 40% representatives of registered political parties, 30% independent candidates, 25% representatives of indigenous peoples and 4% by representatives of Afro-Peruvian peoples. It is also proposed that it be parity.
4. The JNE regulates the distribution of seats
In its tenth complementary provision, the project indicates that the JNE in a maximum of 30 calendar days, counted from the publication of the reform, regulates the distribution of seats, the financing of independent candidacies, and of representatives of the peoples. indigenous and Afro-Peruvian peoples. The JNE will have 10 calendar days to approve the electoral schedule, after the call for the election of the assembly members.
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