Peru’s President Dina Bolwarte renewed his call for Congress to hold early elections as a way to end weeks of deadly protests, warning he would otherwise seek constitutional reform to hold a vote.
The South American country has been embroiled in a political crisis with near-daily protests since Dec. 7, when then-President Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
In seven weeks of demonstrations, 48 people have been killed in clashes between security forces and protesters, according to Peru’s ombudsman’s office.
Lawmakers last month moved the 2026 election to April 2024, but with the protests showing no sign of abating, Bolwarte has called for them to be held this year. On Friday, she urged Congress to move the vote even further.
However, in a plenary session that ended early on Saturday, Congress rejected the proposal with 45 votes in favor, 65 against and two abstentions.
The legislature is due to meet on Monday to discuss the election schedule.
Boluarte said that if lawmakers refuse to move the vote forward, she will propose a constitutional reform so that the first round of elections will be held in October and a runoff in December.
Demonstrators are calling for immediate elections, as well as the removal of Bolwarte, the dissolution of Congress and a new constitution.
“No one is interested in clinging to power,” Bolwarte said on Friday. “If I am here, it is because I have fulfilled my constitutional responsibility.
On Saturday, protesters with hoods and shields, stones and chunks of cement battled police in a haze of tear gas as Lima became the scene of clashes and the city’s first death from the protests.
In recent weeks, Castillo’s supporters have blocked highways, causing shortages of food, fuel and other basic supplies.
The unrest comes mainly from poor, rural indigenous people from southern Peru who have identified Castillo – who is indigenous and from the same region – as one of them who will fight to end the poverty, racism and inequality they suffer from .
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