The fallout after Vizcarra’s decision to dissolve Congress

PERU - In Brief 06 Oct 2019 by Roberto Abusada

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After the September 30 dissolution of Congress, a few facts remain clear:This action is considered illegal by most prominent constitutional scholars and constitutional experts (see attached declaration published by 11 constitutional experts in Spanish ). However, there are many lawyers that argued that this decision was legal. It is unlikely that the decision will be opposed as it enjoys wide popular support, including that of the armed forces. Some polls published days after the event showed that 80% of the population back President Vizcarra, while his popularity rating has soared by 35 percentage points to 75%.The international community is unlikely to condemn or question the dissolution. The head of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, issued a non-committal response stating that it was up to the Constitutional Tribunal to rule on the legality of Congress’s dismissal and saluted Vizcarra’s call for congressional elections for January 26th 2020. The newly elected Congress would complete the term of the one dissolved. Vizcarra’s legal argument for dissolving Congress was that a question of confidence had been denied twice (the first one brought down the cabinet headed by Fernando Zavala), hence he had to name a new cabinet.The President has not found it easy to choose new ministers. He finally assembled a cabinet on October 4 that included members of the last cabinet. The cabinet is headed by Vicente Zeballos (previously Minister of Justice). A surprise nomination in the Ministry of Finance is María Antonieta Alva, a 34-year old economist who was acting as Director General of the Budget at that ministry. Alva is considered a well-trained economist from U...