From today the work of the Constitution Commission of Congress, which will continue to evaluate the political reforms with a view to advancing general elections to April 2024. The working group chaired by Hernando Guerra Garcia (Popular Force) has in its hands the approval of constitutional reforms with electoral impact. To implement them, they must be approved in this legislature and confirmed in a second vote in the next one.
In order to have a broader vision of the reforms that must be prioritized in the current context, the commission will hear the opinion of experts today, starting at 9:00 am, in a regular session that will be held virtually.
The participation of the former president of the Constitutional Court, Victor Garcia Takes; the director of the School of Government and Public Policy of the PUCP, Ricardo Tanaka; the professor of the PUCP and former head of the ONPE Fernando Tuesta Soldevilla; the independent expert on electoral law Virgilio Hurtado, and Ernesto Álvarez, dean of the USMP Law School and also former president of the TC.
“The idea of listening to different opinions in the shortest possible time is to identify the proposals with the greatest impact for the Peruvian political system.”, stated Guerra García.
Priority reforms
García Toma, one of the exhibitors at the Constitution Commissionconsidered that, due to the short time for the new elections, the reform package “cannot be very ambitious.”
“There is a very brief stage for deliberation and debate, whose clear and specific objective is to have a better government. Under these conditions, one of the most urgent reforms is the return to bicamerality, which today is subject to a request for reconsideration.”, indicated to Peru21.
A second measure that should be taken into account for the constitutionalist is to restore congressional re-election and, thirdly, make viable the reform to eradicate preferential voting from the electoral system, “which has been harmful to the political party system.”
The head of the Mission for Peru of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), Percy Medina, agreed that the return to bicamerality it’s key.
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“If the bicamerality is done well, a better relationship could be generated between those represented and the representatives. This should also assume that the candidates are properly chosen and there are two important elements there: suitability and legitimacy”he commented to this newspaper.
Another of those invited by the Constitution, Tuesta Soldevilla, argued that the bicamerality and the election of congressmen without preferential vote are important, as well as other reforms that could improve the relationship between the Legislative and Executive.
“The lethal weapons of this conflictive relationship of powers must be withdrawn, eliminating the dissolution of Congress, but only allowing the censorship of entire cabinets and up to a maximum of two”, he wrote yesterday in his column in Trade.
Keep in mind
- On December 23, the Constitution Commission evaluated three bills that propose electoral reforms, among them the proposal of Edward Malaga to “synchronize the parliamentary elections with the presidential second round of three candidacies.”
- For García Toma, the electoral authorities must be “renewed”. “Due to circumstances of discredit, the mandate of these authorities for the elections should be terminated,” he said.
- “They should review the primaries to build coalitions and avoid future fragmentation of Congress,” said Percy Medina, International IDEA’s chief of mission.
