Development: On 5 October congress unanimously approved the composition of two out of three reforming congressional commissions.
Significance: Removing parliamentary immunity is the task of one of the working groups. It has been long a joke in Peru that getting elected to congress is a ‘get out of jail free card’. The second commission to get the green-light will have powers to investigate and punish ‘unethical behaviour’. Removing immunity would mean moving away from the 1993 constitution, however, it would also break with all previous constitutions which have enshrined this parliamentary privilege – this includes the 1973 constitution, the spirit of which President Ollanta Humala invoked in his inaugural speech. The commission causing the most trouble in congress is the investigatory commission responsible for looking into allegations of government corruption during former president Alan García’s second term in office (2006-2011).
Key points:
• There are arguments for keeping immunity in place: it prevents the government from using the threat of criminal investigations to intimidate political opponents. However, the government believes immunity privileges must be overturned because parliamentarians have long been hiding behind immunity to dodge legal proceedings.
• The three commissions will tackle congressional misdemeanours allegedly committed during the previous government and similar transgressions, should they emerge, during the current administration. The committees will also set up reforms which, they hope, will ensure these changes are maintained in the future.
• The immunity commission for 2011-2012 will have the following members in its ranks: Santiago Gastañadui Ramírez (of Humala’s Gana Perú, GP), Rogelio Canches Guzmán (GP), Alejandro Aguinaga Recuenco (of the ‘Fujimorista’ Fuerza 2011), Wuilian Monterola Abregu (of former president Alejandro Toledo’s Perú Posible) and Yehude Simón Munaro (of the centre-right Alianza por el Gran Cambio, APGC).
• The ethics commission includes: Jaime Valencia Quiroz (GP), Sergio Tejada Galindo (GP), Juan Díaz Dios (Fuerza 2011), Juan Castagnino Lema (PP), Humberto Lay Sun (APGC), Michael Urtecho Medina (Solidaridad Nacional) and Mauricio Mulder Bedoya (Partido Aprista Peruano).
