During his closing campaign, the presidential candidate of the Good Government party, Jorge Nietostressed that, for him, the most important thing, in democratic terms, is “to give back to the People their right to intervene directly, whether plebiscite or referendum, in matters of constitutional reform.”
During his closing campaign, the presidential candidate of the Good Government party, Jorge Nietostressed that, for him, the most important thing, in democratic terms, is “to give back to the People their right to intervene directly, whether plebiscite or referendum, in matters of constitutional reform.”
This is in reference to the law approved, at the insistence, by the Congress of the Republic: The Law No. 31399which modifies articles 40 and 44 of Law 26300, Law of Participation Rights and Citizen Control.
Next week, signature collection will begin to call for a referendum in Peru. (Photo: Andina Agency)
Article 40 of Law 26300 specified that the matters and norms referred to in the second paragraph of Article 32 of the Constitution cannot be submitted to a referendum. The new rule added that “those that are not processed according to the procedure established in the first paragraph of article 206 of the Political Constitution” could not be submitted to a referendum either.
The first paragraph of article 206 states that “any constitutional reform must be approved with an absolute majority of the legal number of members of each chamber, and ratified by referendum. That is, the referendum for a constitutional reform can only proceed if Congress approves it.
Meanwhile, the modification of article 44 focuses on which authority can call a referendum. Previously, this process was called by the electoral authority. However, with the modification, if it is a constitutional reform, the referendum process must be called by the President of the Republic, by order of Congress.
On the other hand, Nieto assured that there was a need to “reestablish the balance of powers.” “The Peruvian constitutional tradition was one of balance of powers, where each of the powers controls the other to avoid dictatorships.”
