PanamaTimes

Monday, Jun 30, 2025

Peru’s beleaguered president urges congress to bring 2024 elections forward

Peru’s beleaguered president urges congress to bring 2024 elections forward

Dina Boluarte calls for vote to be held in December after weeks of anti-government protests since overthrow of former president
Peru’s beleaguered president, Dina Boluarte, has urged Congress to bring forward elections scheduled for April 2024 to the end of this year as anti-government protests and blockades intensify across the country.

Boluarte, who has refused to step down despite furious nationwide protests calling for her to resign, said on Friday that elections should be brought forward to December in an attempt to ease the seven weeks of unrest that has claimed 57 lives – mostly civilians killed in clashes with the security forces.

Speaking at a military airbase in Lima, Boluarte said she hoped the unconditional proposal would “get us out of this quagmire”. She said the executive branch of government would call elections as soon as Congress set the date. The deeply unpopular chamber approved bringing forward elections by two years to April 2024 in a first vote earlier this month but must make a second vote to finalise the decision.

“Nobody has any interest in clinging to power … and I, Dina Boluarte, have no interest in staying in the presidency,” she said.

Peru has been embroiled in political turmoil and street violence since early December when former president Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. Boluarte, his vice-president and former running mate, took office.

But the demonstrations and blockades have spread in size and scale as scores of civilians have been killed in violent clashes with the security forces, overwhelmingly in the southern Andes, a region ignored and marginalised by the Lima establishment which largely supported ousted Castillo who pledged to eradicate poverty and overturn the status quo.

Hundreds of protesters marched through the streets of the southern city of Cusco on Thursday, carrying placards that denounced the president as a monster, a murderer and a Judas.

“We are here to protest against this authoritarian government which kills its people,” said one of the marchers, a 40-year-old teacher called Javier Cusimay.

“We feel stronger than ever and we will carry on fighting until the very end. This is a peaceful, bullet-free struggle. The violence is coming from the government. So many of our brothers have died. This government cannot go on,” Cusimay added as the protest moved through the cobblestone streets of the city’s picturesque historic center.

Protests have spread to the capital, Lima, as demonstrators travelled in convoys from the southern Andes to the capital to demand Boluarte’s resignation, the closure of congress and fresh elections.

Students joined the ranks of protesters on Tuesday in massive protests that ended in violent clashes with the police. Several journalists were among those injured by rubber pellets and teargas canisters fired by the police.

A police raid on a university last Saturday sparked further outrage over heavy-handed police tactics and swelled the ranks of the protesters demanding political consequences for Boluarte and her cabinet.

Boluarte, 60, apologised for the way the university raid was carried out on Tuesday but praised the police force’s “immaculate conduct” in the protests in Lima last week. She called for a “national truce” and claimed violent groups, some of them from Bolivia, were sowing “chaos and anarchy” for a political agenda.

The lawyer and former civil servant, who hails from Apurímac in the southern Andes, appealed to the protesters, saying in Quechua that she was one of them.
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Former FBI Director James Comey Questioned by Secret Service Over Social Media Post
Mexican Influencer Valeria Márquez Killed During Livestream in Suspected Femicide
×