New Peru president vows to finish term, others want election

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Jorge Aragón, a political science professor at Peru’s Pontifical Catholic University, said a Boluarte government “is going to be very complicated, if not impossible.” Noting that Boluarte has no legislative base of support, Aragón said she faces the hard task of trying to forge ties with numerous blocs in a fracious Congress. But Patricia Zárate, head of the institute’s opinion studies area, said Thursday that Boluarte might be able to hold on if members of Congress don't want to risk early elections “If she can work with all the legislative blocs that are negotiating certain ministries or certain policies, she could last a little longer than President Castillo,” Zárate, said. “Since Congress wants to survive, maybe it can at least negotiate some issues to let them survive.” Still, Zárate said, “reaching 2026 looks very distant.” Luis Mendieta, who was Castillo’s chief of staff, said he hoped Boluarte can build alliances in Congress that “will allow her to approve more than 64 important bills that the Castillo government is leaving.” “She must also look for a Cabinet that guarantees governability — difficult but it can be achieved,” Mendieta said. He predicted that any truce with Congress “will last a month or perhaps more, but then the great problems of the country come upon her.” The governor of Cusco, Jean Paul Benavente, demanded the new president call an early vote, saying that would offer a “solution to the political crisis of the country.” In the streets, small demonstrations by Castillo supporters continued in the capital and others parts of Peru, including Tacabamba, the district capital closest to the rural home of Castillo.