“Bringing forward the elections to this year, one of the main demands made during the protests, would have undoubtedly helped ease tensions and started to restore confidence in democratic institutions”, said the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on Tuesday 18 April, during a debate in the European Parliament on the political crisis in Peru.
This crisis is notably marked by the 36-month preventive detention of the former radical left-wing president, Pedro Castillo (see EUROPE 13081/20).
Borrell noted that the new Peruvian President, Dina Boluarte, has finally declared herself in favour of holding early presidential elections. “But Ms Boluarte cannot dissolve the Congress. It has to dissolve itself, and so far it does not seem to want to do so”, he said.
According to the High Representative, elections are not a panacea, but seem to be a necessary condition for ending the violence, which has left more than 60 people dead, and for strengthening social cohesion. The EU is ready to support any initiative - including the political class, civil society and all components of society - that will help overcome the crisis of political representation in Peru.
Borrell supported the work of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights delegation to clarify the course of the recent political unrest. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)