“It is possible to hold the first round in October, and the second in November 2023,” the election specialist believes.

With the nomination of the second regular legislature on February 15 next year, a second vote is expected to pass the constitutional reform, which establishes postponing the general election to April 2024.

Considering this, Jose Villalobos, President of the Peruvian Institute of Electoral Law (IPDE) in dialogue with RPP News, pointed out that in an environment of social and political upheaval “exceptional measure” like holding elections in the last months of 2023.

“It was optimal to hold elections more than a year in advance, in April 2024. However (…) I believe that the situation requires an exceptional solution, which was proposed Constitutional CommissionDecember 16, that the advance payment is not for April 2024, but for October of this year,” he said.

Besides, Villalobos He specified that there was “enough time” to conduct the electoral process on a schedule similar to the last regional and municipal elections.

“I think that for the time being it is advisable to hold the first round in October and the second one in November, because you have enough time to follow, to make the same schedule that we used in the regional and municipal elections in October,” he explained.

In this sense, he pointed out that the article “which establishes that the registry closes a year before” should be changed, and that, in addition, there would be no primaries.

“Same Fernando Tuesta Soldevilla He proposes to hold elections in 2023, again canceling the primaries. At the same time, they would have had enough time to hold elections and that at the end of the year there would be this change of power that the people on the street demand,” he said.

However, he specified that Congress He is responsible for approving elections both this year and next year.

“It’s one thing what the population wants, but those who win Congresswho is the only one who can determine when he is going to cut the election mandate because it is going through constitutional reform. So, there are several positions in the parliament,” he said.

“Real reform never happened”

Secondly, Villalobos He believes that a comprehensive electoral reform has not yet been carried out, and only “patches” have been approved.

“I think what we need to influence is the issue of candidacy and campaign funding, because, in addition to the fact that progress has been made, it continues to be noted that illegal money continues to flow into election campaigns. And this is due to the fact that our legal framework is very lenient towards this,” he said.

In this regard, he argued that transparency should be sought with respect to private companies or individuals who contribute to election campaigns, therefore, the current restriction in this regard should be lifted.

“Transparency is required, whether you are funding an individual or a company, which is currently prohibited. However, I believe that this should not be prohibited, because it forces the parties, having no money, to resort to illegal money, when the money of a company or an individual, if it is transparent, declared, legal, because it will be known where it came from” , – he said.

“The only block that should be and that exists in the norm is that if a company is going to finance a campaign or a party, then it should be prohibited from entering into contracts with the state. And not all companies enter into contracts with the state, there are some that they will be able to contribute, for example, social responsibility,” he added.