Peru Congress shelves President Boluarte’s bill for early elections

• Boluarte proposed a bill on Wednesday to move elections to October 2023.
• Protesters have been calling for new elections to be held as soon as possible.
• Eight weeks of anti-government protests have resulted in the deaths of 48 individuals.

Peru: On Friday night, Peru’s Congress postponed President Dina Boluarte‘s measure to move elections to 2023, leaving a major demand of demonstrators whose rallies have rocked the country in recent weeks hanging in the balance.

In an attempt to quiet the violent protests, Boluarte proposed a bill on Wednesday to move elections to October 2023. After weeks of political infighting, a splintered Congress has repeatedly failed to agree on its own bill.

The President’s plan was taken up by a congressional commission on Friday afternoon, but it was shelved on a technicality before it even reached debate. It will not be debated again until July when the new legislative year begins.

Protesters have been calling for new elections to be held as soon as possible since previous left-wing President Pedro Castillo was deposed and imprisoned in December after attempting to illegally dissolve Congress.

Deaths due to the conflict

Eight weeks of anti-government protests have resulted in the deaths of 48 individuals in conflicts between demonstrators and police forces, the majority of whom were slain in Peru’s copper-rich south.

Congress had already agreed to move elections from 2026 to 2024, but this did not put an end to the protests.

The right-wing Popular Force party’s bill to call elections this year failed Wednesday after days of closed-door deliberations failed to produce a consensus.

Castillo’s party, Peru Libre, proposed a second bill for early elections and a non-binding referendum on a new constitution, but it was defeated Thursday night.

Other bills to move elections forward are still in the works, but none have reached an agreement.

Protesters in Peru have blocked highways with trees, stones, and tires, taken over regional airports, and burned down buildings, disrupting commodities delivery, business, and the functioning of some of the world’s most important copper mines.

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