Perú 2020: ¿El quiebre de la continuidad?

Abstract

After Peru’s democratic transition in 2000, analysts have described the country as a case of significant political continuity. Among other aspects, the economic model adopted in the 90s was left untouched, public policy was controlled by the Executive, a relatively weak Congress meant the predominance of the Executive, and there was no broad-scale social protests at the national level. During the 2016-2020 period, a significant change occurred in the Executive-Legislative power dynamics. This transformation could affect other dimensions of the 20-year long political continuity. Generally speaking, the Executive and its technocrats have lost strength in relation to Congress’ greater protagonism. The latter has managed to obtain greater control over budget, and has started to use regularly some parliamentary prerogatives, such as the vote of no confidence and presidential impeachment. These tendencies continued to consolidate with the new Congress elected in 2020 after the dissolution of the preceding one by President Vizcarra. The latter was in turn impeached by the new Congress. The year 2020 was marked by a greater propensity by Congress to promote populist measures and criticize the existing economic model, in the midst of a pandemic that strongly hit Peru and affected the country harshly.