Boluarte renews appeal for early elections in Peru amid deadly riots
The election timeline is due to be discussed on Monday, with a state of emergency already in place until mid-February
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Incumbent Peruvian president Dina Boluarte on the day of her being sworn-in in Lima in December (Reuters)
The appeal for early elections in Peru has been renewed by Peruvian President Dina Boluarte in an attempt to control the situation on the streets as she threatened to seek constitutional reform for the elections to happen.
This follows just a month after lawmakers not only pushed back elections from 2026 to 2024, but Boluarte's initial request, which was turned down by Congress this past Saturday, was for elections to be held this year - to the protestors' discontent.
Read next: Peru: Lawmakers propose motion to impeach incumbent President Boluarte
"Vote for Peru, for the country, by moving the elections up to 2023," she said in an address to the nation, voicing her idea in wanting elections to be held in October, adding: "Tomorrow you have a chance to win the country's trust."
Since the beginning of the protests in December, the Ombudsman's Office of Peru confirmed on January 21 that at least 47 people, including a police officer, have been killed in deadly clashes between security forces and protestors.
However, the election timeline is due to be discussed on Monday, with a state of emergency already in place as of January 15 for 30 days.
Won't give up the chair
After demands for her resignation earlier this month, Boluarte said she would not resign.
“Some voices coming from the violent and radical groups demand my resignation, bringing people to chaos, disorder, and destruction. I say to them responsibly that I will not step down,” Boluarte said while speaking to the nation in a late-night broadcast on state TV on January 14.
The South American country has been rocked by protests that have gone on for two months so far, mostly in the southern and eastern areas, since the ouster and arrest of Boluarte's left-wing predecessor Pedro Castillo on December 7, after attempting to dissolve the nation's legislature and rule by decree.
Protesters, many from poor Andean regions, are also calling for a new constitution, immediate fresh elections, and the dissolution of congress. Civil groups have decried repression by the security forces, but the interior minister defended the police and praised their "spectacular" abilities.
