The Government of Dina Boluarte does not have a political party with representation in Congress, but has two allied banks that lead the ruling: Popular Force and Alliance for Progress (app). The groups of Keiko Fujimori and César Acuña constitute the governor force that has allowed him, until now, to leave the investigations of the Commission for Supervision, of constitutional complaints and requests for presidential vacancy.
It was an exception that Popular Force promotes the censorship of former Interior Minister Juan José Santiváñez. In fact, it was the only time that, in practice, Fujimorism operated as an opposition bench. In other controversial cases, which directly involve the president, they operated as a political armor force. This is reflected by votes and their legislative performance.
Last Tuesday, the Congress Supervision Commission approved with 12 votes in favor and one against a preliminary report requesting research powers to follow the president’s trail for alleged abandonment of the position after her surgery and recommends suspending it. An important detail is that when the technical secretary of the commission called each congressman to vote up to two occasions, no parliamentarian of Popular Force and app responded to the call. The report must be voted in the plenary.
To block this report, it would not be the first time that FP and App manage to protect the president. On November 9 of last year, the Supervisory Commission requested powers to inquire about the case of the presidential chest. On that occasion, the plenary rejected the order: there were only 45 votes in favor, 16 against and 23 in favor.
Among the congressmen who opposed, 12 are FP and 8 of app.
Popular Force and app block research
In addition, Fujimorism has had a determining role to hinder constitutional complaints against Boluarte. On Friday, April 11, the Constitutional Accusations Subcommission of Congress (SAC), which presides over Apepista María Acuña, voted the accusation against Boluarte for the Rolexgate case.
The constitutional complaint had been made by the Prosecutor’s Office, but the preparation of the final report was in the hands of Fujimorist congresswoman Nilza Chacón, who ended up recommending to file the case.
The SAC approved the report: 10 congressmen voted in favor, three of them of Popular Force and one of app, Nelcy Heidinger. The proposal must be discussed in the Permanent Commission, where both banks have the majority.
Keiko Fujimori and César Acuña’s groups have not supported any constitutional accusation against Boluarte. On December 5 of last year, the Permanent Commission granted 15 days to the subcommission of constitutional accusations to investigate and prepare the final report on another constitutional complaint that weighs against Boluarte for deaths in protests.
This is another constitutional complaint made by the Prosecutor’s Office when Supreme Prosecutor Juan Villena was in charge of the Public Ministry. There were 13 votes in favor and 11 against. Among those who opposed, there were 5 Popular Force and 2 legislators.
The SAC will have to prepare another final report to vote this case. There is no optimism, because inquiry into the alleged human rights violations of this government against the demonstrations of December 2022 and January and February 2023 were filed in Parliament.
As Boluarte is a high official, it enjoys the right of political prejudice while exercising and up to five years after leaving it. The Prosecutor’s Office can advance preliminary investigation, but to formalize preparatory inquiry first needs a constitutional complaint to Congress and this institution must approve it. While that does not happen, the case does not advance.
On July 18 of last year, SAC declared it inadmissible a constitutional complaint that the former nation of the Patricia Benavides nation against Boluarte had presented for that case. Most voted in favor of that decision: 14 congressmen, 4 of them of Popular Force and 1 app.
The then president of the SAC, Lady Camones, of APP, had submitted a report to declare the origin of the constitutional complaint. But Fujimorism opposed. His allies recommended that the proposal be to file the case. And so it was.
It was not the first time that the SAC declared the investigation inadmissible. On May 6, 2023, this subcommission dismissed another constitutional complaint against Boluarte for repression of protests. On that occasion, who had promoted the imputation was the congressman of the Popular Democratic Block Ruth Luque, but his initiative did not prosper because the SAC stated to declare the inadmissibility: 11 parliamentarians voted in favor of that decision.
That month, the SAC also sent to the archive another constitutional complaint for alleged crime against humanity against Boluarte. The author of the imputation was the citizen Ciro Silva Paredes. The Subcommittee proposed to declare it inadmissible: 8 congressmen voted in favor of that proposal.
Vacancy not admitted to debate
Until last year, Congress received 27 constitutional complaints against Boluarte, corresponding to her role as Minister of Social Inclusion, Vice President and President. None has been approved. Fujimorismo, app and its allies have also prevented Boluarte from going to the plenary to account.
The Republic identified last year that from seven presidential vacancy motions discussed in the Plenary, Popular Force was the only political group that voted in block and against the admission to debate of these orders. The political force that occupies the second place of protector of this government is app.
After the censorship of former Interior Minister Juan José Santiváñez, the congresswoman of the popular democratic bloc Susel Paredes announced that she was going to collect signatures to present a presidential vacancy motion against Boluarte. The problem is that wall intentions are not enough. Admission to debate from a vacancy requires at least 52 votes.
In an interview with ‘Fourth Power’, last year, the leader of Peru Libre, Vladimir Cerrón, calculated that between April and July of this year Boluarte will leave power. The president already convened the general election process, but Fujimorismo and APP have not left the role of officials.
This week, the Plenary did not admit the interpellation against the Minister of Transportation, Raúl Pérez-Reyes, for the inoperance of the Government at the new Jorge Chávez airport and the Jauja airport. The most votes against political control were FP with 10 and app with 11.
The Congress also protected the Minister of Health, César Vásquez, who is an app, of being questioned by the case of contaminated physiological serum, which has charged seven victims so far. With 33 votes against, 21 in favor and 35 abstentions was armored. Fujimorismo and cointers did not support the motion: 15 orange parliamentarians voted in abstention and 11 app against.
The backbone of this government in Congress is made up of the parties of Fujimori and Acuña.
