Constituent Assembly of Peru

The Constituent Assembly of Peru was the national constitutional body convened in 1978 to prepare Peru's return to representative civilian government after a decade of military rule. It was authorized by the government of General Francisco Morales Bermúdez, which had inherited the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces and was pursuing a controlled political transition. The assembly was elected in 1978 and formally installed on 28 July of that year. Its central task was to replace Peru's 1933 Constitution with a new constitutional framework capable of organizing competitive elections and civilian institutions. The body was politically pluralistic and included representatives from the Peruvian Aprista Party, the Christian People's Party, left-wing alliances, communist and socialist organizations, Christian democrats, the Peruvian Democratic Movement, and the Odriist National Union. Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, the historic leader of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance, presided over the assembly. Luis Alberto Sánchez served as first vice president and chaired the Constitution Committee, while Ernesto Alayza Grundy was second vice president. The assembly therefore brought together parties with sharply different views on the military government's legacy, the role of the state, economic organization, civil liberties, and the structure of executive and legislative power. The resulting Constitution was approved, enacted, and promulgated on 12 July 1979. It came into force on 28 July 1980, the day Fernando Belaúnde Terry began his second presidency and constitutional civilian government was restored. The document established five-year general elections for the president, vice presidents, and Congress; introduced a presidential runoff when no candidate obtained more than half of the valid vote; and reorganized the legislature into chambers of deputies and senators. It also strengthened presidential authority in several respects, including limited powers to return legislation, influence budgetary policy, grant pardons, and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies after repeated cabinet censures. The 1979 Constitution expanded political participation by recognizing citizenship from age 18 and removing the prior restriction that had prevented illiterate Peruvians from voting. It limited the death penalty to treason committed during a foreign war, established a Constitutional Tribunal, recognized a right of insurgency in defense of the constitutional order, and adopted a social-market economic framework with references to corporate pluralism and freedom of trade and industry. The assembly's constitutional settlement governed Peru's political system until it was superseded by the 1993 Constitution, adopted after the political crisis and self-coup of Alberto Fujimori. As an institution, the Constituent Assembly ceased to exist after completing its constitutional mandate and handing the country back to elected civilian authorities.

The Constituent Assembly emerged from Peru's transition away from the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces. The military regime had governed for roughly a decade through a state-led political and economic program, but by the late 1970s General Francisco Morales Bermúdez's government was seeking an orderly return to representative institutions. Convening a constituent body allowed the regime to transfer responsibility for designing the next constitutional system to an elected, politically diverse assembly while retaining control over the timing and framework of the transition. Elections were held in 1978, and the assembly was installed on 28 July 1978. Its membership reflected the broad ideological range of Peruvian politics. The largest group was associated with the Peruvian Aprista Party, while the Christian People's Party and several left-wing, communist, socialist, democratic, Christian-democratic, and conservative formations also obtained representation. This composition made the assembly a forum for negotiations over civil liberties, economic policy, executive power, legislative design, and the relationship between civilian institutions and the armed forces. Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre was elected president of the body. His leadership gave the proceedings historical and symbolic importance because he was one of Peru's most prominent political figures and the founder of the Aprista movement. Luis Alberto Sánchez served as first vice president and led the Constitution Committee. The assembly worked through committees and plenary debates to produce a constitutional text intended both to correct perceived weaknesses in the 1933 Constitution and to provide a durable framework for electoral government. The resulting document was promulgated on 12 July 1979. Among its principal institutional changes, it provided for joint five-year electoral cycles for the president, vice presidents, and members of Congress, replacing earlier arrangements involving partial parliamentary renewals. It created a second round for presidential elections when no candidate secured more than half of the valid vote. The Constitution also strengthened the presidency by permitting the executive to return legislation, exercise greater influence over budgetary implementation, grant pardons and commute sentences, and dissolve the Chamber of Deputies after three cabinet censures. At the same time, it sought to restrain what its drafters regarded as excessive parliamentary powers under the prior constitution. The text expanded the electorate by setting citizenship at 18 years and removing the exclusion of illiterate voters. It narrowed the death penalty to treason during a foreign war, created a Constitutional Tribunal as a specialized guardian of constitutional norms, and recognized an insurgency provision framed as a defense of constitutional order. Its economic provisions described a social-market economy, corporate pluralism, and freedom of trade and industry, combining market principles with recognition of a substantial public and social role for the state. The Constitution entered into force on 28 July 1980, coinciding with Fernando Belaúnde Terry's inauguration and the restoration of constitutional civilian government. The assembly had thereby completed its transitional mandate. Its constitutional settlement remained in force for fourteen years. It was replaced in 1993 after the political crisis surrounding President Alberto Fujimori's self-coup and the subsequent constitutional process. The Constituent Assembly is consequently remembered less as a continuing organization than as the institution that designed Peru's principal democratic constitutional framework of the late twentieth century.

• 1993

  1979 constitutional order is replaced

  [1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  The 1993 Constitution superseded the document produced by the assembly.

• 1980

  Constitution enters into force

  [1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  The Constitution took effect on 28 July 1980 with the inauguration of Fernando Belaúnde Terry and the return of constitutional civilian government.

• 1979

  1979 Constitution is promulgated

  [1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  The assembly approved and promulgated the new Constitution of Peru on 12 July 1979.

• 1978

  Assembly is convened and installed

  [1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  The government of Francisco Morales Bermúdez convened the elected body, which began its constitutional work on 28 July 1978 as part of Peru's transition from military rule.

A transitional constitutional institution rather than a commercial brand; its principal public output was the 1979 Constitution of Peru.

• Constitutional document · 1979

  1979 Constitution of Peru

  The assembly's principal and defining output. The Constitution established a framework for elected civilian government, five-year electoral cycles, a presidential runoff mechanism, revised executive and legislative powers, expanded voting rights, a Constitutional Tribunal, restrictions on capital punishment, and a social-market economic order. It entered into force in 1980 and remained Peru's constitutional framework until 1993.

• 1979

  Adopt the 1979 constitutional settlementOther

  Background

  The assembly's mandate was to replace the 1933 Constitution and define the institutional rules for Peru's post-military political order.

  Action taken

  It promulgated a constitution that combined stronger presidential authority with expanded political participation, a bicameral Congress, a Constitutional Tribunal, and social-market economic principles.

  Aftermath

  The document governed the return to civilian rule from 1980 until its replacement by the 1993 Constitution.

  Source

• 1978

  Use an elected constituent body to manage the democratic transitionStrategy

  Background

  After a decade of military government, the Morales Bermúdez administration sought a structured return to civilian rule and authorized elections for a constituent assembly.

  Action taken

  The government convened the assembly and allowed a broad range of political parties and alliances to participate in drafting a replacement for the 1933 Constitution.

  Aftermath

  The process produced the 1979 Constitution and enabled the scheduled restoration of constitutional civilian government in 1980.

  Source

• 1993

  1979 Constitution is superseded[1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  Peru adopted a new constitution in 1993, ending the operative life of the constitutional framework produced by the assembly.

• 1980

  Constitutional government resumes under Fernando Belaúnde Terry[1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The 1979 Constitution entered into force on 28 July 1980 when elected civilian government was restored.

• 1979

  1979 Constitution is promulgated[1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The assembly promulgated a new national constitution on 12 July 1979, replacing the 1933 constitutional order.

• 1978

  Constituent Assembly is installed during Peru's political transition[1]Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org

  Other

  The assembly began its work on 28 July 1978 after elections organized as part of the military government's plan to restore civilian constitutional rule.

1. 1Constituent Assembly of Peruen.wikipedia.org