Jorge Jauregui: “Parliament has too much power and very little legitimacy”

Electoral Law Specialist Jorge Jaureguiin dialogue with RPP Noticias, felt that the possible promotion of a general election was insufficient to address the problems associated with a “representative liberal democracy” in the country.

In this sense, he pointed out that it should be considered that parliamentAt present, “great political power” is concentrated in it.

“Great political power is expressed in a parliament that concentrates a lot of power (…) This makes Peru a parliamentary-presidential system, and this is a problem for democracy. Parliament has too much power and too little legitimacy,” he said.

“There is a structural problem in Peruvian political dynamics, and that is how parliamentarians makes them completely out of touch with public opinion. And the electoral rules give very little control to citizens, the design of the electoral system produces such an effect,” he added.

With regard to these actions of the national representation, he stressed that it is worrying that parliamentarians are exerting “political pressure” on the institutions of the electoral system.

“It is not guaranteed that there will be no pressure on the electoral bodies. I think this is the biggest danger: that there are bills, debates and positions of some relevant politicians that undermine the autonomy and integrity of the electoral bodies, which is very dangerous,” he said.

“Over the past 20 years there has been democracy, despite the fact that the parliament was not representative, although never at the level of today, because and JNE How ONPE They guaranteed comprehensive, credible and constitutional elections,” he added.

choreges Another worrying aspect, he called Amnesty International’s report on the current political and social upheaval in the country.

“We have all seen the Amnesty International report, which provides elements of an assessment of human rights violations, which, moreover, had a tinge of racism and classism, since they were directed against the population, against the university,” he said.

“The point is that you don’t act democratically, because democracy does what parliament And Executive be responsible to the citizens,” he said.

“There is no political will to advance the elections”

On the other hand, the electoral lawyer believes that “there is no political will” Congress And Government push for a general election, which, according to what he said, was ruled out this year given the situation in Parliament.

“In the situation in which we are, the procedure should be initiated in the next regular legislature, which begins on March 1. That is, a bill must be submitted, which is submitted for consideration Constitutional Commission where it should be discussed, and if a positive conclusion is reached, it should be transferred to the plenary for discussion and voting,” he explained.

“Optimistically, if this is discussed by the end of March this year, we can have a vote of 66 congressmen, with a referendum immediately called to ratify this constitutional reform. The electoral bodies require 60 to 90 votes. days to hold a referendum. Grosso modo, we would be between June and July with the election results thus proclaimed referendum ratification,” he added.

Given this scenario, choreges He believed that a general election could take place “around March or April 2024”. However, he believes that with the resignation of the president, the picture has changed significantly.

“The constitutional provision prescribes that (…) when the presidential formula is exhausted (…), the president of the Congress takes office and calls elections immediately,” he specified.

“We are at the end of February, if he resigns, we will have the opportunity to go to the polls this year, around October or November. Moreover, JNE He suggested holding elections (…) between 230 and 270 days. It could have taken even less time,” he said.