With 94 votes in favor, the Plenary of Congress approved reconsidering the vote on the bill that proposes the constitutional reform for the advancement of General elections to December 2023. Twenty-five parliamentarians voted against and there were 5 abstentions.
The president of the Constitution Commission, Hernando Guerra García, urged his colleagues to develop a heightened debate with opposition of ideas while the legislator of Somos Perú, José Jerí, requested that the project presented by the Executive and that proposes bringing forward the general elections to April 2024.
Likewise, Jerí requested that the Plenary vote unfailingly today on the first vote on this constitutional reform. According to the Magna Carta of 1993, if approved with no less than 66 votes, the proposal would have to be submitted to a referendum. If it reaches 87 votes, its approval may be ratified in the next ordinary legislature.
ORIGINAL NOTE
Peru21 consulted the position of different benches and found that there are 66 minimum votes to approve the reconsideration. However, after that, there is still no consensus on the underlying issue: approving the advancement of the elections for the proposed date.
As it is a constitutional reform, the proposal to advance the elections requires 87 votes to continue its course in Congress, a figure that is still difficult to determine. However, if the Plenary got at least 66 votes, the project would be submitted to a referendum, a scenario that would satisfy the left bloc to promote the Constituent Assembly in said referendum.
Some benches seem not to want to make their positions more flexible despite the urgency generated by the context of political and social crisis that the country is experiencing after the coup perpetrated by Pedro Castillo.
The Legislature rejected last Friday the opinion on the advancement of elections, with 49 votes in favor, 33 against and 25 abstentions. Only Fuerza Popular voted en bloc in favor of the initiative.
SIGHT: Minister of Justice on early elections: “It is in the hands of Congress”
POSITIONS AND CONDITIONS
Legislator Martha Moyano ratified the position of Fuerza Popular and indicated that Parliament does have the time to approve constitutional reforms in addition to early elections, but what is lacking are the votes.
Sources close to Avanza País indicated that they would give the green light to the reconsideration, but would insist that the elections be held in 2024 in order to approve necessary reforms.
In Popular Renewal, congressman José Cueto told this newspaper that they will vote in favor of the reconsideration and early elections.
In APP, where the request for reconsideration was presented, a consensus in favor appears. Its leader César Acuña gave a warning yesterday. “Is Avanza País thinking that the president of Congress is the president? I call for reflection, ”he said.
In the left block, the parliamentarians will insist that the popular consultation to install a Constituent Assembly be included in the elections. The spokesman for Peru Libre, Flavio Cruz, said that they will vote in favor of the reconsideration and then seek to exhaust all resources for it. If the numbers are not favorable to him, however, he did not rule out supporting the early elections on his own in the face of the crisis in the country. Legislator Edgar Tello (Teachers’ Block) also presented a similar position.
In Acción Popular, whose votes were divided, congressmen Luis Aragón and José Arriola agreed to support the reconsideration, but, to support the early elections, they said that minimal political reforms should be included. Aragón also stated that he would not be against the Constituent Assembly consultation and, according to what he said, other congressmen from his bench also think so.
DATA
- The advancement of elections project proposes that the congressmen conclude their representation on April 28, 2024 and that Dina Boluarte concludes her term on April 30 of that year.
- A minority opinion of the left bloc proposes that, on the date of the early elections, the public be consulted if they approve the call for a Constituent Assembly. In addition, it specifies that the presidential term ends on July 28, 2023.
