Peru’s President Dina Bolluarte again refused on Thursday to call early elections, with the opposition calling for fresh protests with a central demand for her resignation.

“The issue of early elections is closed, we will continue to work in a responsible manner and under the Constitution until July 2026,” Mrs. Boluarte told the press after a cabinet meeting in Lima.

Opposition factions and movements, especially from poor Andean provinces in southern Peru, have called in recent days for marches on Lima, as they have already done twice since the beginning of the year, with central demands that Ms. Bolluarte step down power and to organize early parliamentary and presidential elections.

Dina Bolluarte became the president of Peru in December 2022, after the parliament decided to remove from office her leftist predecessor Pedro Castillo, whose vice president she was. The crackdown on massive pro-Mr Castillo protests that followed killed at least 50 people, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Mrs. Boluarte yesterday called on the opposition to abandon plans to organize new mass demonstrations. “I ask these people who are preparing to announce the third occupation of Lima: how many more dead do you want?” he fired.

The crisis in Peru is a reflection of the huge gap between the elites of the capital and the poor, historically neglected populations of the Andes, who supported Mr. Castillo, a former teacher and trade unionist of indigenous descent, in whose electoral victory they saw something like revenge for the scorn and racism against them.

In January, the Peruvian prosecutor’s office announced that it had opened an investigation against Ms. Boluarte for “genocide,” serial “aggravated murder” and “causing grievous bodily harm,” but the president has immunity until the end of her term in 2026.

As for her predecessor, who was arrested a few hours after adjourning after trying to dissolve the parliament that was preparing to overthrow him and rule by decree, he has remained in custody since December, awaiting trial for “mutiny” and ” coup attempt”.