Peru lawmakers open door to restoring bicameral legislature

LIMA (Reuters) – Peruvian lawmakers on Friday opened the door for the Andean nation to restore its traditional bicameral legislature after three decades operating with a unicameral Congress, although the measure still needs to be approved through a referendum.

Peru has historically had two chambers of Congress. But the two were merged into one in the early 1990s, when then-President Alberto Fujimori used the military to illegally shut down the legislature then in place and reform it.

On Friday, a majority of lawmakers approved the reform but fell short of the super majority needed to avoid a referendum. It is unclear when the referendum would take place.

This is not the first time that restoring a bicameral Congress is put to a popular vote. Peruvians overwhelmingly rejected a bicameral legislature in a 2018 referendum.

As part of that 2018 referendum, Peruvians barred lawmakers from seeking reelection. Some critics see the establishment of a new Senate as a way to give term-limited parliamentarians a way around that reelection restriction by allowing current lawmakers to run for the Senate.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Sandra Maler)