Francisco Sagasti proposes to modify the Constitution to shorten the presidential and congressional period

The former President of the Republic Francisco Sagasti pointed out on Sunday a path to “overcome the political encampment” and get out of the political crisis. The former congressman of the Purple Party proposed that citizens, through signatures, request a constitutional amendment to shorten the presidential term and congress to less than five years, and thus the president Pedro Castillo and the current Congress, with María del Carmen Alva at the head, leave their posts and call for new elections.

“If we want citizens to have jobs, health, education, investment, let's take advantage of the raw materials boom, let us not paralyze two of the main mines we have in our country and if the attitude of the Executive and Congress does not change, with this combination of confrontation and surreptitious arrangements, citizens can exercise the right to request a constitutional amendment to shorten the presidential and congressional period. 75,600 signatures (needed),” he said in an interview with Cuarto Poder.

This is a constitutional reform bill regulated by Law 26300 which deals with the rights of participation and citizen control.

Sagasti added that agreement should be reached to establish what would be the “minimum changes” to be made to the Constitution in order to shorten periods and implement electoral reforms that “help” filter candidates and have congressmen and an executive up to what the country requires.

OTHER SOLUTIONS

In addition, in a column he published in the newspaper La República, Sagasti stated that a less traumatic scenario would be to “overcome the trap” between the Executive, Legislative and political parties with the participation and monitoring of civil society. He also pointed out that the Council of Ministers should be recomposed and that there should be “competent, honest and unethical persons” in the public administration.

Along these lines, he indicated that a consultation cabinet should be formed, “not make constitutional or legal changes that affect the balance between powers of the State, nor should legislation that weaken public institutions” be adopted by Congress. He mentioned that both the Executive and the Legislative “must commit themselves not to interfere with the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Judiciary.”

“Otherwise, political instability, economic uncertainty, corruption and administrative chaos will have negative consequences for the entire population, particularly for the most vulnerable,” he said.

Sagasti said he disagreed with the interpretations of “permanent moral incapacity” in relation to vacancy, which he said should be specified by the Constitutional Court.

CASTILLO DOES

On the other hand, in the interview with the Cuarto Poder program, Sagasti criticized the management of Pedro Castillo, who said “he does not know how to distinguish between private interest and public interest”.

“In the case of the Executive there is an inability to appoint probate officials, it seems that having a record is a kind of requirement in some cases. We have never had more than 40 ministers in less than nine months of government,” he said.

“There is no doubt that President Castillo Terrones has shown that he does not know how to distinguish between the private interest and the public interest. We have several cases in which we prefer to look for people around them,” he added in another part of the interview.

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