Spanish
The Congress of the Republic elected José María Balcázar, parliamentarian of the Peru Libre bench, as president of the Legislative Branch after surpassing María del Carmen Alva in a second round of voting. By constitutional succession, that election also makes him the new interim president of the Republic, a position he will assume during the transition to the 2026 general elections, after the censure of José Jerí.
Balcázar's election took place in a complex political climate and has generated mixed reactions. Leaders of several benches defended his experience and trajectory as the main argument for their support, while sectors of civil society and professional guilds expressed concern about his ethical suitability in the face of the responsibility of leading the State in a period of high institutional tension.
The vote was decided in the second round, where Balcázar managed to consolidate the necessary support from various parliamentary groups to prevail in the plenary of Congress, reflecting cross-party political agreements that sought to quickly close the power vacuum generated after the previous presidential vacancy.We recommend reading:The leftist José María Balcázar is the new interim president of Peru
Professional profile of José Balcázar
José María Balcázar Zelada, 83 years old, was born in Cajamarca in 1943. He is a lawyer from the National University of Trujillo, in Lambayeque, and since 2021 he has served as a congressman for Peru Libre, representing the Lambayeque region. He has a solid background in Law, with higher studies and practical experience related to judicial practice, and before entering Parliament he worked in the Judiciary as a magistrate. In his professional career, he was the provisional supreme vocal of the Permanent Civil Chamber of the Supreme Court, although he was not ratified by the National Council of the Magistracy, considering that he did not meet the standards required to continue in the judiciary. During his career in the Legislature, Balcázar chaired and participated in various high-profile parliamentary commissions, including the Justice Commission, where he addressed projects related to institutional reforms. During Pedro Castillo's government, Balcázar emerged as one of the most visible defenders of the then-president. On several occasions, he expressed direct support for the management and questioned the ongoing investigations into members close to the Executive. Regarding the case of former presidential advisor Bruno Pacheco, for example, he maintained that there was no conclusive evidence without audiovisual evidence. In December 2022, when the presidential vacancy against Castillo was debated after the attempted coup d'état registered in Peru, Balcázar did not register his vote in the plenary, which was interpreted as an ambiguous position at a critical moment for the country's institutions. José María Balcázar promotes a project to restrict the diffuse control of judges (Andina)Controversy over Child Marriage
Balcázar has been the protagonist of controversies due to his positions on social issues. In 2023, during the debate on the prohibition of child marriage, he argued that early sexual relations «help the psychological future of women» and that the prohibition of unions before the age of 18 did not address the real causes of teenage pregnancies. These statements sparked rejection from human rights organizations, social groups, and political sectors that described them as supporting practices that violate the rights of children and adolescents.“In large cities, de facto unions are early, sexual relations are early, and forensic medicine knows perfectly well that, as long as there is no violence, early sexual relations rather help the psychological future of the woman. The problem is how to prohibit pregnancy, there is a lack of sex education there. But marriage is dysfunctional, what do we do with people who already have children and are living together without violence being under 18 years old?”, he stated during the session. Congressman José Balcázar refers to child marriage. Channel N"It turns out that marriage in Peru has become dysfunctional. Today people don't get married, they are all de facto unions. From the age of 14, the girls are already pregnant. What do we want with the law? To prohibit those people who become pregnant as minors? But how? If they have sex beyond what has been said here — that, in some cases, the parents sell the girls in the jungle," said Balcázar when justifying his abstention.
