The forced interpretation that the Executive has made regarding the first question of confidence presented before the Legislature – and rejected outright by this institution – has opened a new chapter of confrontation between powers to be elucidated in the constitutional Court (TC). This, furthermore, while waiting for the new Cabinet headed by Betssy Chávez request the support of the plenary session of Parliament.
At the close of this edition, the president of Parliament, José Williams, the announced jurisdictional claim and precautionary measure against the Executive was already ready to be presented this Tuesday before the TC, as El Comercio was able to learn. The documentary evidence that has accelerated such a claim is the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday 24, which states that the Government has understood that the flat rejection “clearly constitutes a denial of the question of trust. Therefore, the consequence is the total crisis of the Cabinet”, headed by Aníbal Torres, today Chávez’s adviser.
This interpretation opens the stage so that, in the face of a second refusal of confidence under the consideration of the Executive, this value that Parliament can close.
MIRA: “This is a real threat, and Congress must defend its privileges”
Consulted by this newspaper, opposition congressmen from the Fuerza Popular, Avanza País, Renovación Popular, Acción Popular, Podemos Perú and Alianza para el Progreso (APP) benches agreed yesterday that the jurisdictional demand is the answer and the main way, for now , before the barrage of the Government.
“We already have the possibility that, in the jurisdictional action, this act is included and we can have the evidence to establish that there is a problem between the two powers and that the TC is the one called to resolve it,” said Patricia Juárez, spokesperson for People’s Force.
For Diego Bazán, from Avanza País, “it is clear” that the Government wants to close Congress. “Let’s not imagine that elections are going to be called, but a constituent assembly is going to be proposed and the initial project of Cerronismo is going to be carried out,” he asserted.
José Cueto, from Renovación Popular, agreed with that assessment. “Because of the number of complaints that the president has, they have reached a stage where they are desperately going to try to shut down Congress,” he opined.
Silvia Monteza, a legislator for Acción Popular, also said that she saw in the Executive branch intentions to go against the constitutional order, for which she stressed that the jurisdictional claim and the precautionary measure are going to “slow down a bit” such purpose.
“This is somewhat unconstitutional, because there has been no factual denial. What they are wanting is to shut down Congress unconstitutionally. It is clear that they are victimizing themselves, wanting to make Congress look like the bad guy in the movie, ”he said about the ministerial act.
José Luna, spokesman for Podemos Peru, said he was sure there was no denial of trust. Alejandro Soto, spokesman for Alianza para el Progreso, indicated that “the coup comes from the Executive.” “If Congress has to be closed, that the polls at the national level have said that everyone leave. Let Castillo go and we’ll all go,” he exclaimed.
MIRA: Prime Minister: “We do not intend a second confidence issue to close Parliament”
Other measures
Meanwhile, Avanza País legislator Patricia Chirinos yesterday filed a constitutional complaint against President Pedro Castillo, former Prime Minister Aníbal Torres and ministers who signed the minutes of Thursday 24. In her letter, she maintained that the defendants violated four articles of the Magna Carta and requested that they be disqualified from public service for 10 years.
Chirinos said that the complaint is “for having raised an illegal and unconstitutional question of trust, and for illegally interpreting the flat rejection of the question of trust as a denial of it, acting against the constitutional order with the sole purpose of dissolving the Congress of the Republic illegitimately”.
The next step is for the complaint to be reported to the Subcommittee on Constitutional Accusations and a qualification report is issued to determine if it is appropriate. If it were, and once such a position was ratified in the Permanent Commission, it would then have to give a deadline for a final report.
Other opposition congressmen agreed that what happened constitutes a constitutional violation. Meanwhile, Bazán insisted on the possibility of filing a suspension motion against Castillo. Precisely, the Constitution Commission will meet from 12:15 pm today to continue the debate on the decision on the procedure for the suspension of a President of the Republic.
defend interpretation
Consulted by El Comercio, the ministers Alejandro Salas and Kelly Portalatino, from the Labor and Health portfolios, respectively, defended and justified the interpretation of Parliament’s decision.
“They feel that the issue of the Constitution has been affected in some field, it is not. We are making an interpretation by virtue of the rank and normative hierarchy. The Constitution prevails over any type of regulation,” said Salas.
In turn, Portalatino assured that what the Government wants to close are the social gaps. “At no time is the president’s intention to close Congress,” said the also parliamentarian from Peru Libre.