Percy Medina: “In authoritarianism, traits are intensified that call into question the quality of democracy”

Head of Mission to Peru international idea, Percy Medina, referred to the current political crisis, exacerbated by the lack of consensus in Congress on the approval of one of the drafts for early elections. Medina mentioned that, according to magazine EconomistPeru is no longervicious democracy” still “hybrid mode”, a figure who represents us as a nation with both democratic and authoritarian traits.

“I think we are in a very deep crisis and that politicians don’t realize how damaging this can be to democracy. The Economist, in their report on democracy, downgraded us from imperfect democracy or imperfect democracy to a hybrid regime. Peru has dropped four positions in this ranking. and, above all, because of the issue of political culture,” he said in News Extension.

“The hybrid regime means that we are halfway between democracy and authoritarianism.. There are features of a democratic regime that remain, but there are growing features of authoritarianism that call into question the quality of democracy. This is really worrisome because the processes are very dynamic and we may end up losing democracy, as happened in other countries. Sometimes it is not noticeable in everyday life, and suddenly you realize that freedoms are lost, the balance of power is lost, the conditions for political participation are lost, and we are in a process that is very difficult to reverse,” he added.

The 2023 election should be the minimum consensus in Congress

For Percy Medinaadvancing the general election to 2023 should be the minimum point of consensus that there should be in Congress, and that should come from the political parties themselves.

“This is the exhaust valve that is needed today and should be the minimum consensus that everyone should agree on.. It is very disturbing that the political forces represented in the Congress do not agree as political forces. It is also very disturbing that consensus should be reached in Congress one by one among 130 people, without regard to the fact that political groups are represented there; that is, there the parties would have to sit down and agree and announce publicly about the terms, conditions, etc., and turn this page,” he said.

“The problem is that we are in a lot of uncertainty. Every time the vote starts, we’re all staring at the board, waiting to see what’s going to happen, like it’s horse racing in which we don’t know who will come first. This is not good either for democracy or for the very actors who lead these processes,” he concluded.