By The Associated Press
LIMA – The Congress of Peru rejected on Wednesday the advancement of general elections in 2023, a proposal raised in an attempt to cool down the protests against his mandate and against the same Parliament that in two months of demonstrations have left 58 dead.
The legislators did not approve the bill that would call the polls in December of this year and set the end of Boluarte's term on April 30, 2024 and that of the legislators one day before.
The elected president would have taken office on May 1, 2024 and his term ended in July 2026.
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87 votes were needed in two legislatures or 66 votes plus a referendum, but only 54 votes in favor, 68 against and two abstentions were achieved.
As the proposal was rejected, a minority opinion of the Peru Libre party began to be debated.
The minority opinion proposes elections in 120 days and consultation for a constituent assembly.
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The rejection follows an extensive legislative debate that began last week between the 13 political groups and was suspended twice, once on Monday and once on Tuesday.
After the vote, which was postponed for three days in which Fujimori legislator Hernando Guerra García tried unsuccessfully to find a consensus among the parliamentary groups, the head of Congress, José Williams, announced that this Thursday a third initiative will be debated in plenary to advance elections this year which, in this case, includes a consultation on a constituent assembly.
The debate in Congress occurs amid protests by thousands who for almost two months have demanded the resignation of Boluarte, as well as that of members of Parliament.
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The mobilizations began at the end of 2022 as a reaction to the removal and imprisonment of then-President Pedro Castillo, who on December 7 tried to dissolve Congress to avoid a vote for his removal from office.
After Parliament's decision to dismiss him, his vice president Boluarte was sworn in as president and days of protests broke out mainly in the southern Andes and two weeks ago they moved to Lima.
Boluarte has indicated that if an agreement is not reached in Parliament, she will present a bill to request the advancement of elections for October and the start of the new Government in the first days of 2024, also that the next Congress reform the constitution.