Source: lamula.pe
The text, drafted by the group chaired by Patricia Juárez, rejects the remarks of President Castillo, rejecting that the law affects the right to citizen participation or that it violates the constitutional principles related to the referendum.
The Commission of Constitution and Regulations of the Congress of the Republic approved by majority the opinion of insistence on the autograph of law that establishes that all constitutional reform must be approved by the Parliament before it is submitted to referendum. The vote was 11 votes in favour and 6 against by the members of the group.
The insistence opinion was backed by MPs Patricia Juárez, Alejandro Aguinaga, Martha Moyano and Héctor Ventura (Fuerza Popular), Gladyz Echaíz (APP), Adriana Tudela, Alejandro Cavero (Avanza País), Alejandro Muñante (Renovación Popular), José Elías (Podemos), Luis Aragón and Wilson Soto (Acción Popular).
Those who voted against the bill were Congressmen José Balcázar, Guido Bellido, Waldemar Cerrón, Víctor Cutipa and Jaime Quito (Perú Libre) and Edgar Raymundo (Juntos por el Perú).
During the session, Congressman Waldemar Cerrón (Perú Libre) presented a previous question to invite Minister Aníbal Torres to explain the observations to the autograph on the referendum. However, the proposal was rejected with 11 votes against and 6 in favour.
The Constitutional Commission of Congress, chaired by Congresswoman Patricia Juárez, from Fuerza Popular, will meet this Tuesday and has on its agenda the bill that seeks to approve by insistence the autograph of the law that reinforces the limits for a referendum, a norm observed last Thursday by President Pedro Castillo on the grounds that it violates citizens’ rights.
The law establishes that any initiative for constitutional reform that is submitted to referendum must first pass through Parliament, following the procedure of article 206 of the Constitution.
The text rejects the observations of President Castillo, rejecting that the bill affects the right to citizen participation or that it violates the constitutional principles regarding the referendum. “The Commission recommends the rejection of this observation, as it has no legal basis and is contrary to the provisions of the Constitution and the parameters already established by the Constitutional Court (TC),” reads the autograph.
In this sense, it is proposed to support the text “in the same terms approved by the Plenary of the Congress of the Republic on 16 December 2021″. The autograph modifies articles 40 and 44 of the Law on the Rights of Citizen Participation and Control.
Juárez had advanced last Saturday that in its Tuesday session, the Constitution Commission would debate the Government’s observations. “We have a committee session on Tuesday (18 January) and there we will have the opinion to be debated by the members of the committee. We are currently analysing the observations made by the Executive, which is a regular, expected procedure,” he added.
It is important to point out that Juárez’s report stems from a legislative initiative by his colleague and spokesman for Fuerza Popular, Hernando Guerra García, which proposed modifying articles 40 and 44 of the Law on the Rights of Participation and Citizen Control.
If this text is approved in committee and then in the Plenary of Congress, any referendum for a partial or total reform of the Constitution will have to go through the Congressional process. This means that those promoting a constituent national assembly will no longer be able to use Article 32 of the Constitution or collect signatures to push for a referendum.
This is why the government considers that this ordinary norm alters the interpretation of the Constitution, especially Articles 32 and 206, when the ideal path for this type of legal readjustment is a constitutional reform.
Congresswoman Katy Ugarte, from Perú Libre, announced that they will vote against the insistence because the text proposed by Juárez “curbs the right of the people to participate in a referendum”.
