We have articles 90 and 112 of the political constitution that established a term of five years for the Congress and the presidency. This means that, under ordinary circumstances, the members of Congress as well as President Boluarte would finish their current term in July 2026.
As I mentioned before, there was a constitutional association when former president Castillo tried to attempt a coup d'état. There was an immediate reaction from all the democratic institutions. Congress convened, and President Castillo was impeached with 103 votes from all the political parties, including Peru Libre, which was the party that presented the presidency of former president Castillo. After that, strictly following what the constitution says, Vice-President Boluarte was sworn in as President of Peru. This is the way the constitution proceeded.
Now the government is trying to hear the general demand of the population in advance of a new general electoral process. To do so, we need to have constitutional reform. That is why, taking into account this political crisis and the demands of the population, President Boluarte, in accordance with the provisions of article 107 of the political constitution of Peru, submitted for the urgent consideration of the Congress of the Republic a constitutional reform project that modifies the terms of her mandate. It proposes that the general election be moved forward to April 2024. That deal was approved last December in a first vote with 93 votes.
I must point out that, prior to the presentation of this bill, there was another one presented within Congress in which is it was proposed to hold elections in December 2023 and assume a new government on May 1, 2024. That project was rejected.
Subsequently, in January, they led a side deal that was presented by the executive branch, and within Congress, there were two projects presented to bring forward elections to December 2023, which did not achieve the necessary consensus for approval.
For these reasons, President Boluarte presented for the second time a new project to advance elections, this time to be held in October of this year and having the new government take office on December 31 of this year. This project was referred to the constitution committee and was not approved. Currently, the Congress is still discussing the issue and the legislative session could be concluded by tomorrow, but there is some discussion between the parties and Congress to extend this legislative session until February 17 to continue talking about this. This is still being worked out right now as we are talking.