Peru’s president calls for early elections as chaos spreads

Peru’s president, Dina Boluarte, said she’ll propose that elections be brought forward by two years to 2024 and also imposed a state of emergency in several regions to try to pacify a nation in chaos since her predecessor Pedro Castillo was impeached last week.

“In the next few days, I’ll send congress a proposal for early elections,” Boluarte said in an overnight address to the nation. “We see an escalation of political confrontation that’s not healthy for the country.”

Boluarte, who was elected as Castillo’s vice president and whose term goes to 2026, declared a state of emergency in some Castillo strongholds where protests are most intense.

The developments over the last week underscore Peru’s long-running political crisis that has seen a unicameral congress confront the sitting president for the better part of a decade with the last person to fully finish his term being Ollanta Humala in 2016.

The demonstrations have gathered momentum since Castillo’s ouster on Dec. 7, as his supporters call for his release from the police base where he is being detained, the dissolution of congress, early elections and a constitutional rewrite. It remains to be seen whether Boluarte’s partial accession to one of their demands will help restore calm.

In recent days, protesters have blocked key highways that connect Lima and the country’s main port with agricultural heartlands, and clashed with police in riot gear in downtown Lima.

The demonstrations are affecting harvesting, packing and transport to the port of perishable goods, said Gabriel Amaro, head of Peru’s agricultural producers, in reply to written questions. Peru is a major exporter of agricultural goods including blueberries, avocados, grapes and asparagus.

The political unrest threatens to inflame simmering community tensions in mining areas. Peru’s rise to become a major producer of copper, zinc and silver has been hampered by sometimes-bloody protests and sporadic roadblocks as indigenous groups vent frustrations over what they see as insufficient compensation for land being used by mining companies.

Antamina, the giant copper-zinc venture owned by BHP Group and Glencore, was operating normally on Monday, Chief Executive Office Victor Gobitz said in an emailed response to questions. Hochschild Mining’s two underground mines in southern Peru were also unaffected by political protests. MMG’s Las Bambas copper mine - the target of a multiple community protests since it opened in 2016 - didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

On Sunday, two people died during street protests and congress suspended debate on proceedings against Castillo.

Castillo’s approval ratings had fallen to about 25% by the time he was impeached, but he did still enjoy significant backing among the poorest farmers and some other groups such as teachers. Many of them resent Boluarte for having ditched Castillo when he attempted to dissolve congress.

“Mostly likely we will end up with early elections in Peru to calm the social conflict,” economist Jorge Estrella, a Lima-based economist and former representative to the International Monetary Fund, said.

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Bloomberg’s James Attwood contributed to this report.