Dina Boluarte and the Fuerza Popular party are proposing that the elections that were already brought forward to April 2024 be held in October 2023
Peru’s parliament reconvenes today after yesterday adjourning again a decision on whether to hold early parliamentary and presidential elections later this year, as a new demonstration took place in Lima with a central demand for the resignation of President Dina Bolluarte.
“The plenary meeting is postponed until February 1st at 11:00” (local time; 18:00 Greek time), the parliament’s presidium said last night via Twitter.
Dina Boluarte and the Fuerza Popular party (“Popular Force”, populist right, the faction of the Fujimori family) are proposing that the elections, which were already brought forward to April 2024, be held in October 2023. They hope that with the decision this will de-escalate the mass mobilizations and riots in which at least 48 people have lost their lives since December 7.
Peru’s parliament, which rejected the proposal in its first vote Friday night, looks set to back down this week. Last Monday, more than seven hours of talks were not enough. Yesterday the members of Congress preferred to postpone the decision again.
“The crisis in Peru is due to the fact that the neoliberal model has failed” and “together with the elections there should be a popular consultation on (the establishment of) a Constituent Assembly” that will undertake the drawing up of a new Constitution, ruled the left-wing MP Edgar Tejo.
Dina Boluarte raised the bar on Sunday night during her address to the nation: “ladies and gentlemen of parliament, you must understand your historical responsibility,” she said, adding that “tomorrow Monday) you are given an opportunity to win the trust of the country” by responding to the demand put forward by the protesters, he said. “Vote for Peru, for the country, by speeding up the elections, defining that they will be held in 2023 and let’s say to all of Peru with the greatest responsibility that we will all leave,” he added.
The protesters are demanding that President Boulwarte resign, that Congress, in which public opinion has no confidence, be dissolved, that parliamentary and presidential elections be called immediately and that a Constituent Assembly be convened.
The country’s serious political and social crisis erupted after the suspension, arrest and pretrial detention on December 7 of left-wing former president Pedro Castillo, who was accused of attempting a “coup” by announcing that he would dissolve Congress as he prepared to oust him. removed from power. He was succeeded by his vice-president at the time, Mrs. Boluarte, whom the protesters describe as a “traitor”.
Jerónimo Lopez of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (GSEP) accused the members of Congress the day before Monday of clinging to their parliamentary positions and called for a new mobilization yesterday.
“Political interests”
Hundreds of people marched in the center of the capital yesterday, reaching about 200 meters from parliament. At around 20:00 yesterday (local time; today 03:00 Greek time), incidents broke out, with the police making extensive use of tear gas, although most of the people who took part in the mobilization had already left.
“We appreciate that Mrs. Boluarte abandoned her principles and lost the respect of the people” when she did not resign the day former President Castillo was terminated. “Someone who shows disloyalty cannot stay in power,” said Nelson Calderon, a 30-year-old student. “Even if he hastens the elections, the only demand of the people will remain that Dina Boluarte resign. (…) The world no longer wants to choose someone who murders her own people”, he explained.
Fanny Yucra, 25, from the Puno region, says politicians “see nothing but their own political interests, not those of Peruvians. We will continue to protest until the end.”
Thousands of protesters have recently gone from Andean regions to the capital, as they say that the protests taking place in their regions are not being heard.
The political and social crisis of the past seven weeks reflects, among other things, the huge gap between the elites of the capital and the poor and historically neglected populations of the Andes, who supported Mr. Castillo, whose election victory they saw as something of a revenge for contempt. and racism against them.
Hundreds of people took part in protests again yesterday in the south. In Chouliaka, where 18 people were killed in clashes with police on January 9, people in traditional costumes chanted “people united never defeated”.
In Cusco, the country’s tourist capital, near the Machu Picchu archaeological site, protesters marched through the city, forcing shopkeepers to close.
RES-EMP
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