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Peru Page |
Welcome to ElectionInfo.com's pages on Peru
Official Name: Republic of Peru
Capital: Lima
Area: 1,285,220 square kilometres ( 496,226 square miles )
Major cities (Population)
Lima 5,759,676 (1993)
Callao 637,755 (1993)
Arequipa 620,471 (1993)
Trujillo 508,716 (1993)
Chiclayo 410,486 (1993)
Cuzco 257,751 (1993)
Population: 23,780,000 (1995 estimate)
Population growth rate: 1.9 per cent (1990-1995 average)
Type of government: Republic
Independence: 28 July 1821 (from Spain)
Constitution: 29 December 1993
Voting Rights: Universal at age 18
Government
The president, who is elected for a five-year term, is head of state and executive head of government, and is assisted by two elected vice presidents and an appointed council of ministers. Until 1992, the bicameral National Congress comprised a 180-member chamber of deputies (lower house), elected for five-year terms using a system of proportional representation, and a 60-member senate, also elected for five years. In January 1993 a unicameral 80-member Democratic Constituent Congress took office and drafted a new constitution; it was approved in October and the Congress was ratified. All citizens over 18 years of age are required to vote.
Recent History
The 1933 constitution provided Peru with a president and legislature to be elected for six-year terms, but genuine democracy was not established until 1963, when Fernando Belaúnde Terry was elected president. He was deposed in 1968 and a military juntas, headed by General Juan Velasco Alvarado, ruled for the next 12 years. Belaúnde was re-elected in 1980, when the military agreed to return control of the government to civilians. The deterioration of the economy that had resulted from the policy of “military socialism” worsened under Belaúnde. After Alán García Pérez became president in 1985, an initial improvement was followed by economic chaos: foreign debt, inflation, and crime soared. García’s failure was not only economic; his military campaign against the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a terrorist Maoist group responsible for about 18,000 deaths during the 1980s, was unsuccessful and notorious for frequent human-rights violations by the authorities.
In June 1990 Alberto Fujimori, a son of Japanese immigrants, was elected as García’s successor. He promised justice and ethics in government, and vowed to overcome Peru’s economic problems. In 1991 Shining Path guerrillas moved their attacks closer to Lima and important government installations. At the same time, the country was trying to deal with the president’s economic austerity programme that was designed as a long-term solution to Peru’s economic problems.
Citing Shining Path insurgency, government corruption, and legislative inefficiency, Fujimori suspended the constitution in April 1992 and dissolved the Congress. He took emergency powers and restricted civil liberties. A revival in the economy and the capture of Abimael Guzmán Reynoso, the Shining Path leader, as well as Guzmán’s later call for peace, helped Fujimori maintain popular support. Although he promised a quick return to democracy, elections were delayed. However, a constitutional assembly drafted a new constitution that was approved in a national referendum in October 1993 and was promulgated in December that year. Elections were set for April 1995. In 1994 former United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar announced he would run for election as an independent, but Fujimori won the presidency as well as a majority in Congress for his coalition.
On 17 December 1996, leftist guerrillas from the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement stormed a cocktail party at the Japanese ambassador’s residence in Lima, taking hundreds of hostages. They demanded that imprisoned members of their movement be set free in return for the release of the hostages. On 22 April 1997, Peruvian troops launched a surprise attack on the residence, rescuing all but one of the 72 people still held hostage, and killing all of the rebels.
A longstanding border disagreement with Ecuador, which has caused fighting in the past, continued to be unresolved in 1997.
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