Peru’s parliament again refused on Wednesday to advance the elections from 2024 to December 2023 as the country is rocked by unrest that has claimed 48 lives since December 7.
According to the vote count, 68 deputies voted against, 54 for and two voted blank after 5 hours of debate.
“The constitutional reform project did not reach the required number of votes,” announced the President of Parliament, José Williams.
Left-leaning MPs greeted the rejection with applause and shouts of victory.
The project had been presented by the right-wing Fuerza Popular party but had the support of President Dina Boluarte, elected vice-president on a left-wing list. She and the right advocated bringing forward the ballot scheduled for April 2024 to the end of the year, thus hoping to calm popular protest.
It is therefore the third time since December that Parliament has refused to advance the election to 2023. It had already rejected a proposal to this effect on Saturday. After more than seven hours of debate on Monday, the session was postponed to the next day, then to Wednesday.
The demonstrators demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte, but also the dissolution of Parliament, largely discredited in public opinion, general elections and a Constituent Assembly.
” A time bomb “
The unrest erupted after 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. Vice-President Dina Boluarte, whom the protesters consider a “traitor”, then replaced him.
“It is a total divorce between the political class and the citizens. It’s a ticking time bomb, the worst scenario that could happen to the country, with a president who will not resign, and a parliament that intends to continue as if nothing had happened,” said Alonso Cardenas, professor in Political Science at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University in Lima.
On Sunday, Ms. Boluarte had tried to put pressure on Parliament, speaking of “historic responsibility”.
“Vote for Peru in favor of the country by advancing the elections to 2023 and let’s say to all of Peru with the greatest responsibility that we are all leaving,” she said in a message to the nation.
Parliament is divided into more than ten political forces, not counting the independents. No party has an absolute majority and each vote must be subject to negotiations and alliances.
The left, which voted against the early elections, wants to associate any new ballot with a referendum on a new Constitution. This question is one of the main points of contention within Parliament. The deputies will meet again on Thursday to debate the subject.
Protests, with road blockages and demonstrations, continue in several parts of the country. Several hundred people marched in Lima on Wednesday at the end of the day, during a now daily meeting in the center of the capital.
It is “the struggle [du Pérou] depth that feeds the country. We want Dina Boluarte to resign and elections in April,” said Cintya Huancco, an agricultural engineer, who is demonstrating dressed in colorful traditional Aymara clothing, an ethnic group from the Puno region on the Bolivian border.
In the central Andean region of Junin, dozens of residents blocked the central highway and streets in the city of Huancayo, some 300 km from Lima.
On the economic side, the Las Bambas copper mine, which belongs to the Chinese consortium MMG, suspended its activities on Wednesday due to roadblocks. This mine, located 4000 meters above sea level, accounts for about 15% of the copper production of Peru, the second largest world producer of this ore after Chile. It contributes 1% of the country’s GDP, while its production volume of nearly 400,000 tonnes is equivalent to 2% of world copper production.
After being delayed for fifteen days because of the protests, the Peruvian football championship will finally start on Friday, the Federation announced, but in stadiums without an audience.