Runoff in Peru, analysis: Congress continues to be a thorn in the side of Peruvian democracy

Formally, this informal coalition of parties, which has also largely demolished the powers of the Judiciary, is a center-right to extreme right structure that called itself at the time the “Democratic Bloc”. In reality, ideologies carry weight, but less than pragmatism, in a style similar but even more brutal than Centrão Brazilian, which is the parliamentary structure that conditions the governments of that country in exchange for large shares of power.

Several political scientists agree with this diagnosis. Researchers Alberto Vergara and Daniel Barrenechea describe this phenomenon as a “coalition authoritarianism while constitutional and legal analysts warn that the country is subject, de facto, to a “parliamentary dictatorship”, where laws are instrumentalized to protect particular interests above the common good.

This framework in Peru has been the protagonist of notorious scandals, displacing justice to destroy very serious causesas the first of money laundering that affected the right-wing leader Keiko Fujimori. Páez points out that in those alleys, the cause of the death of at least fifty people between December 2022 and January 2023, in Puno and Ayacucho, due to the repression of protests in the Boluarte government. There is not a single detainee and no one asks questions anymore.

The operation of this device is basic. They retain the political agenda and the State budget in exchange for avoiding an offensive to remove the current president of the Republic from power. It happened with that leader, but when she fell, he continued with his replacement, José Jerí. They are just examples.

The dynamic is marked by a highly fragmented structure but with shared interests. They are prebendaries of transfuguism and the internal divisions from which these ten mini-banks with astonishing peculiarities emerge. An important participant is Popular Forcefrom Fujimorism. Also Free Peruthe party of former coup president Pedro Castillo led by the controversial Vladimir Cerrón, a self-defined Marxist with a stiff back and an education in Cuba who, curiously, has systematically voted in Congress aligned with fujimorism. In part, these two forces are the protagonists of this Sunday’s runoff between Keiko Fujimori, from Fuerza Popular, and Roberto Sánchez, a man from Castillo, but who called his party Together for Peru to, as stated here, distance himself from Cerrón.

Another important player in the parliamentary organization is Alliance for Progress, led by César Acuña. Current governor of La Libertad, is suspected of the dubious management of millionaire public works contracts or for the diversion of funds destined for the César Vallejo University—which he owned—which ended up benefiting him personally or his party. The other forces are the brands of Avanza País, Podemos Perú, Somos Perú and sectors of Acción Popular.

All of these groups are questioned about shielding or shielding investigated figures, changing laws in favor of particular interests, such as the counter-reforms in university education that benefited university owners (Acuña), or uniting to ensure impunity and quotas of institutional power. They have also been responsible for the overthrow of one president after another. And although there is growing urban violence, with thugs seeking to collect “protection” to transport companies among others and execute managers or drivers if they are not paid, this Congress voted laws that complicate police prosecution of these crimes. That’s how things are.

Regarding Justice, this dystopian legislative group first dominated and then dedicated itself to electing like-minded judges in key institutions such as the Constitutional Court, the Ombudsman’s Office, and even grinding away the independence of the National Board of Justice. Peru’s modernity will depend on how it retreats from this institutional morass. A great unknown.