The new president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, said Thursday that she is considering the possibility of calling early general elections if the political truce she requested to overcome the chronic political crisis that has shaken her country, which has had six presidents since 2017, fails.
Source: AFP
“There are some voices that indicate early elections, I think that the assumption of the presidency is to reorient what happens in the country,” said Boluarte, who assumed power after the sudden dismissal of Pedro Castillo on Wednesday, after a failed self-coup.
Boluarte reiterated the request for a political truce and pointed out that he has not yet chosen his chief of staff and his government, in his first press conference at the Executive headquarters.
Nevertheless did not rule out calling early general elections before the end of his term in July 2026.
“Later, in coordination with other organizations, we will be looking at alternatives for (how) better to reorient the country’s destinies,” Boluarte replied about whether he is considering calling elections in the short term.
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During his inauguration in Congress on Wednesday, He had said that he would govern until the date on which the end of the term of former President Castillo was scheduled, July 2026.
But hundreds of protesters in Ayacucho and Puno were demanding general elections this Thursday and the change of Congress, according to images from local television stations.
Ayacucho and Puno are two of the Andean regions of southern Peru where Castillo, a rural teacher, captured the popular vote in 2021.
In Lima, hundreds of Castillo supporters also called for new elections on Wednesday.