Unrest in Peru: Parliament once more refuses early elections in 2023
Peru’s parliament once more refused on Wednesday to advance the elections from 2024 to December 2023 as the country is rocked by unrest that has claimed 48 lives since December 7.
According to the vote count, 68 deputies voted once morest, 54 for and two voted blank following 5 hours of debate.
“The constitutional reform project did not reach the required number of votes”, announced the President of Parliament, José Williams.
Left-leaning MPs greeted the rejection with applause and shouts of victory.
The project had been presented by the right-wing Fuerza Popular party but had the support of President Dina Boluarte, elected vice-president on a left-wing list.
Ms. Boluarte and the right advocated bringing forward the ballot scheduled for April 2024 to the end of the year, thus hoping to calm the dispute.
This is the third time since December that parliament has refused to advance the election to 2023. It had already rejected a proposal to this effect on Saturday. After more than seven hours of debate on Monday, the session was postponed to the next day, then to Wednesday.
The demonstrators demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte, but also the dissolution of Parliament, largely discredited in public opinion, general elections and a Constituent Assembly.
– “Time bomb”
The unrest erupted following the dismissal and arrest on December 7 of left-wing president Pedro Castillo, accused of having attempted a coup d’etat by wanting to dissolve the Parliament which was preparing to oust him from power. Vice-President Dina Boluarte, whom the protesters consider a “traitor”, then replaced him.
“It’s a total divorce between the political class and the citizens. It’s a time bomb, the worst scenario that might happen to the country, with a president who will not resign, and a Parliament which intends to continue as if nothing had happened,” said Alonso Cardenas, professor of political science at Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University in Lima.
On Sunday, Ms. Boluarte had tried to put pressure on Parliament, speaking of “historical responsibility”.
“Vote for Peru in favor of the country by advancing the elections to 2023 and let’s say to all of Peru with the greatest responsibility that we are all leaving,” she said in a message to the Nation.
Parliament is divided into more than ten political forces, not counting the independents. No party has an absolute majority and each vote must be subject to negotiations and alliances.
The left, which voted once morest the early elections, wants to associate any new ballot with a referendum on a new Constitution. This question is one of the main points of contention within Parliament. The deputies will meet once more on Thursday to debate the subject.
Protests, with road blockages and demonstrations, continue in several parts of the country. A demonstration was scheduled for early Wednesday evening in Lima.
In the central Andean region of Junin, dozens of residents blocked the central highway and streets in the city of Huancayo, some 300 km from Lima.
In the region of Puno (southeast), under a fine rain, dozens of peasants and transporters mobilized in the streets of Juliaca.
Economically, Peru’s Las Bambas copper mine, owned by Chinese consortium MMG, suspended operations on Wednesday due to roadblocks.
Las Bambas, located 4,000 meters above sea level, accounts for regarding 15% of the copper production of Peru, the second largest world producer of this ore following Chile. It contributes 1% of the country’s GDP.
Its production volume of nearly 400,000 tonnes is equivalent to 2% of world copper production.