Peruvian Congress To Reconsider Holding Early Elections

With 94 votes in favor, 25 votes against, and 5 abstentions, the Peruvian Congress approved on Tuesday morning to reconsider the bill to advance general elections sent by President Dina Boluarte.

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This decision implies that lawmakers will re-analyze the advancement of the elections to December 2023, which they previously rejected because it would imply the loss of their seats.

In the next few hours, however, at least 87 lawmakers must support Boluarte's bill for the general elections to be effectively anticipated.

A few minutes after the result of the vote in Congress was known, the National Elections Board President Jorge Luis Salas confirmed that his institution could organize an electoral process by the end of 2023.

The image shows people accompanying one of the victims of the repression in Peru, Dec. 2022.

"We are in a position to carry out and complete the elections that replace those who currently hold the country's highest magistracies," he said through a video posted on social networks.

Since Dec. 7, Peru has been the scene of massive protests that have been harshly repressed by the security forces. That happened as a result of Congress removing Pedro Castillo, who tried to establish an emergency government and remove Congress.

Boluarte's proposal to advance the elections to December 2023, however, has not calmed the spirits of the population, which continues in the streets demanding the closure of Congress, the release of Pedro Castillo, and the holding of early elections as soon as possible.