Jorge Nieto, leader of Peru's Partido del Buen Gobierno (Good Government Party), said he would grant the executive branch the special legislative powers it has requested, even as deputies from his own party remain divided over the request in congressional committees.
Nieto made the remarks during a meeting of the Partido del Buen Gobierno, as some of the party's deputies voted in favour of delegating powers to the government in committee hearings while others voted against or abstained. His comments referred to the request submitted by the government of Keiko Fujimori, whose administration is seeking the delegated authority from Congress.
Nieto said the government had promised to provide security to Peruvians from the very first minute, but was now saying it would only govern from day one if handed legislative powers. He called this an excuse, adding that even if the powers requested were not exactly what the government needed to tackle the country's problems, and even though many of the same measures could be issued through emergency decrees, his party would grant everything considered urgent so the executive would have no further excuses not to govern.
Committees split on the request
One report backing the request came from the Comisión de Defensa y Orden Interno, the Defence and Internal Order Committee. When the report was put to a vote, deputies Luis Quispe Candia and Edwin Espinoza, both representing the Partido del Buen Gobierno, voted to declare the granting of powers viable in that area.
Another deputy, Hilda Fernández, broke from her party's line in a separate vote. She abstained when the Comisión de Ciencia, the Science Committee, voted on a report recommending that the government be granted legislative powers.
Deputies who opposed the powers
In other committees, Partido del Buen Gobierno deputies followed the opposition's line. In the Comisión de Energía y Minas, the Energy and Mines Committee, which produced the first report recommending against granting the powers, deputies Rossana Alayza, Gloria Hirache and Milagros Santana voted in favour of that committee's report, which was led by the Juntos por el Perú party.
A second negative report was approved in the Comisión de Justicia y Derechos Humanos, the Justice and Human Rights Committee. Like the Energy and Mines report, it argued that the areas in which the government sought powers were poorly defined and could lend themselves to uncontrolled abuse. Deputies Edgar Gonzáles, Rossana Alayza and Romina Uribe, all from the Partido del Buen Gobierno, backed that report.
Other reports that had recommended granting the powers were rejected outright. In the Comisión de Producción, the Production Committee, votes against the measure from deputies Edwin Espinoza, Nery Fernández and Hilda Fernández were enough to see the document thrown out. In the Comisión de Ciencia, despite Hilda Fernández's earlier abstention, deputies Nery Fernández and Segundo Castrejón voted against the request.
A committee chaired by a Partido del Buen Gobierno deputy also came out against the government. The Comisión de Infraestructura, Vivienda y Transportes, the Infrastructure, Housing and Transport Committee, led by Luis Quispe Candia, voted directly to reject the request. Quispe Candia voted against alongside fellow party deputies Fernando García and Milagros Santana.
What the delegated powers would mean
Peru's Congress operates under a bicameral system made up of a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. A request for delegated legislative powers allows the executive branch to issue decrees with the force of law on specific matters, usually urgent ones, without those measures passing through the ordinary legislative debate in the chamber. Congress committees review such requests and issue opinions before the matter goes to a vote in the full Chamber of Deputies.
The divide within the Partido del Buen Gobierno reflects a broader disagreement in Congress over how much authority to hand the executive. Several of the committee reports that opposed the request, including those from the Energy and Mines and Justice and Human Rights committees, argued that the scope of the powers sought was unclear and could open the door to unchecked abuse.
