The president of Congress, Fernando Rospigliosi, announced that it will promote the approval of a measure that will suspend the financial allocation for Representation Week for congressmen and their advisors during the months of January, February and March 2026, a proposal promoted by the also parliamentarian of Popular Renewal, Norma Yarrow.
This proposal seeks to avoid the use of public resources for proselytizing purposes in the middle of the electoral campaign, in which some 80 current legislators will seek re-election in the bicameral Congress in the electoral elections on April 12, 2026.
The proposal, which will be supported at the next meeting of the Board of Directors, is aligned with a previous initiative by Rospigliosi when he chaired the Constitution Commission, and with the formal request of Congresswoman Yarrow.
“I am going to support this proposal and I hope that this possibility is approved. That is, in the electoral campaign, January, February and March, there will be no travel expenses or free tickets for congressmen and their advisors,” said Rospigliosi.
The legislator explained that the suspension of these expenses will avoid “misinterpretations” about the use of state funds in this type of activities for the electoral campaign.
For his part, Yarrow argued that per diems and tickets, designed for contact with the regions, run the risk of being “denatured” to become a campaign platform, and proposed that, if office staff carry out activities during this recess, it should be under the form of unpaid leave.
EXPERTS IN FAVOR
In this regard, the former senior officer of Congress, José Cevasco, explained to Peru21 that what is going to be eliminated from legislators are plane tickets and their advisors plane tickets and travel expenses. Cevasco recalled that congressmen do not receive travel expenses because they receive an allowance for Representation Week as part of their remuneration that pays income tax and this will not be withdrawn.
The former senior officer supported this initiative, pointing out that in previous re-election periods (such as in the bicameral era) the ticket facilities or the Representation Week that are offered today did not exist.
“Congress modified the regulations so that during Representation Week they can carry out political activities. So, I think Parliament would do well to eliminate this aid. This measure is not a bill, but rather an agreement of the Board of Directors,” explained Cevasco.
With this modification to the regulations, parliamentarians can now “express, defend and promote ideological, programmatic and partisan positions” as part of their functions, without this being considered a violation of the duty of impartiality.
The rule was approved in a second vote on August 20, 2025, with 82 votes in favor, 23 against and 8 abstentions.
The former chief advisor of Congress, Alejandro Rospigliosi, described the proposal as a “sound decision” by the parliamentarians who proposed it and highlighted the need to avoid the misuse of public resources for re-election.
“The use of tickets and travel expenses creates unfair competition against other candidates who do not have such public resources,” he told this newspaper.
Rospigliosi called on the Attorney General’s Office, the Comptroller General of the Republic and Sunafil to carry out an operation of all Congress personnel. He warned that if they do not properly supervise the same control entities, they would become “accomplices by omission.”
“I think the time has also come for the nation’s prosecutor, the controller and Sunafil to carry out an operation of 100% of the working population of Congress, to see if they are working and fulfilling the functions for which they are paid or, on the contrary, if they are being political operators of a re-election campaign. That would be a very serious criminal offense of embezzlement,” commented the constitutional lawyer.
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