In a significant tilt towards constitutional reform, Peruvian law students from the Facultad de Derecho y Ciencias Políticas, Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco, have reported that the nation’s legislative arm, currently a unicameral congress, may be due an important shift back to a bicameral system. This news comes as a result of bills 660, 724, 792 and 1044 being approved in their first vote on November 16, 2023.
Peru’s system of governance is based on the principle of separation of powers: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. Each is independent and autonomous, with the legislative branch, composed by 130 congressmen, primarily responsible for regulation and providing political oversight of the executive branch’s actions.
However, this was not always the case. The congress was bicameral until 1992, with 180 members in a chamber of deputies and 60 in a senate chamber. Following the self-coup of Alberto Fujimori, a Democratic Constituent Congress approved the 1993 constitution, which led to a unicameral congress and eventually increased the number of congressmen to 130.
These structural shifts did not come without controversy. An attempt to reintroduce bicamerality in 2018 via referendum was met with resistance by the Peruvian public, primarily due to dissatisfaction with the performance of the congress at the time. In the following year, a vote in Congress could not obtain the majority required to pass the bill.
Despite the negative perception of the current Congress amongst the Peruvian population, courtesy of a multitude of unpopular decisions, the reintroduction of a second legislative chamber theoretically introduces a desirable filter system to legislative initiatives. This system, constituted by senators with the power to review these initiatives, is expected to block the approval of unconstitutional laws that have been a consistent issue under the current system.
While the future of Peru’s legislative architecture remains uncertain, it is clear that mounting social discontent is providing a fertile environment for reform.