The president of the Republic José Jerí, has presented a bill on October 14 as congressmandespite the fact that he has been head of state for five days.
“The Congressman of the Republic, José Enrique Jerí Oré, member of the parliamentary group Somos Perú, exercising the right of legislative initiative recognized in article 107 of the Political Constitution of Peru and, in accordance with subsection c) of article 22, article 67, 75 and 76 of the Regulations of the Congress of the Republic, presents the following bill,” is what the document reads.
The proposal is called ‘bill on environmental prison work and extramural work with surveillance in reforestation work in the mountains and puna of Peru’ and according to the description seen on the Congress website, it proposes creating the National High Andean Penitentiary Reforestation Program “and modifying the penal enforcement code to incorporate environmental prison work and extramural work under surveillance under a 21×7 regime,” it says. the document.
However, President Jerí would not have the power to present a bill as a congressman, since he now has the functions of head of state, according to the constitutional lawyer, Anibal Quiroga.
The lawyer indicated to Peru21that there are two regimes of the presidency. The ordinary regime of the presidential plan, in which one elects a president and vice president and these replace the president, and the regime of the transitional president, when there are no longer vice presidents, the president would become president of Congress. “In that case he ceases to be a congressman and is president of the Republic, until elections are called within one year,” is what the lawyer indicated.
The former congressional official, José Cevasco, had the same opinion. “I believe that he cannot use his prerogatives like any congressman, because it would go against the separation of powers. He is already authorized to exercise another function,” he said.
Quiroga said that at the time when former president Valentín Paniagua was in charge, a law was created in which the head of state did not lose his status as a congressman. According to the lawyer, for monetary purposes, since the president earned less than a parliamentarian.
“But that does not mean that there is not a rupture. That is, either he is president or he is a congressman, but he cannot be both at the same time. That said, as president he can present bills, but it has to be referred by a minister. Because article 120 of the Constitution says that presidential acts are void without a ministerial referendum,” said Quiroga.
Jerí’s project should have the letters PR (president of the Republic) at the end of the nomenclature; on the contrary, it shows a C and an R (congressman of the Republic).
“It’s wrong, he is president. There is a technical error. It should be inadmissible (the project) because he is no longer a congressman. Because if there is separation of powers, you cannot have one foot on one side and one foot on the other. Either you are an executive and they appoint ministers, or you are a congressman and you are in parliament. But there is clearly an error there,” said the constitutionalist.
This proposal also bears the signature of other parliamentarians, such as Paul Gutiérrez, Ana Zegarra, Alex Paredes, among others.
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