(Lima) Peru’s parliament has suspended until Tuesday debate on a bill calling for early elections in a bid to end violent protests demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte.
The bill submitted to the vote of Parliament plans to advance the elections to October 2023, against April 2024 currently, but nothing says that this will put an end to the demonstrations which have shaken the country since the beginning of December.
“At the disposal of the President of the Parliament of the Republic, the plenary session will continue on Tuesday, January 31 at 11:00 a.m. local (and Eastern) time,” reads a statement from the Parliament after seven and a half hours of meetings to try to find a consensus.
“Not one more death, Dina resigns now,” read a giant banner unfurled Monday during the parade of hundreds of people in the popular district of Huaycán, in the suburbs of Lima.
“The mobilizations will continue because there is no sign that the executive (Dina Boluarte) will resign,” the leader of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP), Geronimo Lopez, told AFP. who called for a nationwide march on Tuesday under the slogan “Dina quit now!” “.
Protesters are also blocking main roads, and dozens of soldiers went to Ica, 250 km south of Lima, on Monday to help the police unblock the Panamericana Sur highway which serves the Tacna region, on the border. with Chile.
The roadblocks have caused shortages of basic commodities and fuel in several provinces.
The Peruvian mine of Las Bambas, operated by the Chinese company MMG and which supplies around 2% of the world’s copper volume, announced that it would suspend its activity from Wednesday if the blockages continued.
” Gain someone’s trust ”
Dina Boluarte called on Sunday evening in a televised message the Parliament to bring forward the elections in order to “gain the confidence of the country by responding to this long-awaited request of the Peruvian people”.
She let it be known that in the event of a negative vote, she would present two bills: a new bill to advance the ballot to October and another providing for the future Parliament to prepare a reform of the Constitution.
Parliament already considered on Saturday a proposal for early elections presented by MP Hernando Guerra Garcia, of the right-wing Fuerza Popular (FP) party. But the text was rejected by 65 votes against 45. The left had insisted on introducing an amendment providing for a referendum on a Constituent Assembly, which contributed to the failure of the bill.
The Speaker of Parliament, José Williams, a retired right-wing soldier, who would replace Mme Boluarte in the event of resignation, also called on Sunday on Twitter the parliamentarians to “think responsibly about the decision that will have to be taken” on Monday.
For the first time in Lima on Saturday, a person died during demonstrations that degenerated into violence.
Victor Santisteban, 55, died of a fractured skull. “We want justice to be done,” Elizabeth Santisteban, sister of the deceased, whose funeral is being held on Monday, told reporters.
His death brings to 48 the number of victims since the dismissal and arrest on December 7 of leftist President Pedro Castillo, accused of having attempted a coup d’etat in order to dissolve the Parliament which was preparing to oust him from power. .
Since that date, the demonstrators have been demanding the resignation of Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of Parliament and a Constituent Assembly.
huge ditch
The crisis is also a reflection of the huge rift between the capital and the impoverished provinces that backed Native American President Castillo and saw his election as revenge for what they felt was Lima’s contempt.
Before his televised intervention, Mme Boluarte had in an interview with the newspaper Trome “regretted” that Parliament had not reached an agreement. “I urge them to put the interests of the country before the interests of the parties,” she asked.
“The truth is that they (MPs) are playing with fire. Their vision is a total denial of reality. They would like to stay until 2026 (the end of their term),” said analyst Giovanna Peñaflor of Imasen, a sociological and political research firm.
According to a survey by the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP), 73% of Peruvians are calling for elections this year. 89% disapprove of the attitude of Parliament, discredited in public opinion for months already.