Fujimori requests powers from the Peruvian Parliament to carry out reforms in multiple areas

Lima.- The government of the President of Peru, Keiko Fujimori, requested legislative powers from Parliament this Friday to issue regulations and carry out reforms in multiple areas, but mainly in security, prisons, taxes, and labor legislation, where the strongest changes are expected.

The Peruvian president submitted the request to Parliament as she marks the first month of her term, despite her intention to present it in her first week in office, but the criticism sparked by various reforms proposed in the draft document led her to rethink this request.

The document, which was approved this week at the last Council of Ministers, arrived this Friday afternoon at the Legislature to be processed.

Among the most prominent points is the reform of legal frameworks so that criminal organizations can be declared as terrorists and the regulations governing the employment and proportional use of force by the Police and the Armed Forces are modified.

The Fujimori government also intends to “reform the penitentiary system,” which currently houses about 100,000 prisoners in 69 prisons whose total capacity is about 40,000 inmates.

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In that sense, the Government is considering “drastic measures,” such as the construction of new prisons and the relocation of low-risk prisoners to disused barracks, previously coordinating with the Armed Forces, which would assume external control of the penitentiaries.

In economic matters, Fujimori aims to establish incentives and aid to facilitate the formalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and to establish a framework of productivity bonuses and performance incentives within the private sector.

Likewise, the Peruvian Executive branch intends to change the holiday regime, in order to move most of those that fall in the middle of the week to the nearest Monday, under the premise of avoiding repercussions on productivity and boosting domestic tourism with more long weekends.

Likewise, the Fujimori government also proposes changes in tax and agrarian matters, as well as water management and mining concessions, among other issues.

The request for legislative powers will first have to pass through the Chamber of Deputies, where the ruling party does not have a majority, and it will be its main hurdle, since it needs its approval to be able to reach the Senate, where half of the senators support Fujimori.