“Do not be afraid to govern”: Peruvian congressional leader confronts Vizcarra for electoral advance

The leader of the Congress of Peru on Monday asked President Martín Vizcarra to "not be afraid to govern", in another sample of the conflict of powers and after the president's request to discuss his proposal for an advance of elections soon.

Pedro Olaechea, president of Congress, in a letter he read to journalists, also urged Vizcarra to publicly rectify statements to opponents of a mining project, in which the president supposedly offers them a radical solution to resolve the issue.

"President Vizcarra, I extend the hand of a Democrat again. Let us work on a joint agenda for the good of Peru. Do not be afraid to govern. Peru is first," said Olaechea, along with his two vice presidents of the Legislature.

Vizcarra sent to Congress at the end of July a proposal for general elections to be held on April 19, 2020, with which his mandate and those of the Legislature would be cut one year.

Olaechea, who entered Congress through the ruling party and later resigned in the middle of political differences with his bench, was elected president of the unicameral Congress in July with the votes of the opposition Popular Force party.

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President Vizcarra had complained over the weekend about the delay of Congress in initiating the discussion of his proposal for the advancement of elections and his plan of political and judicial reform.

"We can all make mistakes, we have all made mistakes. I don't hold on to any position, I just hold on to the Constitution," Olaechea said.

72% of Peruvians support the proposal to advance the general elections announced by President Vizcarra, according to a survey by Ipsos Peru last week and published on Sunday by the newspaper El Comercio.