Peru’s Congress has approved a bill to bring forward presidential elections to April 2024, following a proposal by the country’s president, Dina Boluarte, in the wake of anti-government protests calling for the release of former president Pedro Castillo.
The plenary of the Lower House registered 93 votes in favor, 30 against and one abstention for the text of the constitutional reform presented by the Peruvian Constitution Commission.
The approved text states that «the President of the Republic, currently in office, calls for general elections, to be held in April 2024. She concludes her term of office on July 28, 2024», according to the document presented by the Commission.
This reform -having surpassed the required 87 votes- must be ratified in a second vote in the next ordinary legislature, scheduled for February 2023, reports RPP.
Peruvian legislators have reconsidered the vote after the plenary session was suspended last Friday after rejecting the rejection of bringing forward general elections to 2023.
The country’s president, Dina Boluarte, announced the advancement of elections to April 2024 as a response to the social protests that are taking place in several areas of the country against her government.
«Interpreting in the broadest way the will of the citizenry, I have decided to assume the initiative to reach an agreement with the Congress of the Republic to advance the General Elections to April 2024», declared the president in an address to the nation on the occasion of the violent demonstrations of this weekend that have left more than twenty dead.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
