Political Instability, Institutional Deterioration and Weakness of the Party System: Lessons from the Peruvian Chaos

Abstract

Since 2016, Peru has had seven presidents and has experienced two irregular dissolutions of Congress. How to explain this high political instability? This essay identifies the weakness of the Peruvian party system as the root cause of this political instability. This essay argues that the attack on political institutions in Peruvian politics was latent and with a high probability of breaking into the political scene given the significant weakness of Peruvian parties. Another factor that kept the assault on political institutions latent is the accentuated rivalry among Peruvian political parties. The weakness of the party system, which manifests itself with high volatility, contributed to the emergence of a wide imbalance of power among them. One of these parties (Popular Force) took advantage of this power imbalance for its own benefit to vacate a president and opened the opportunity for a relatively unknown politician to come to power (former President Martín Vizcarra). Vizcarra, a politician with legal issues, found the assault on political institutions effective to weaken his critics and gain popularity. Once the institutional deterioration intensified, as a result of these attacks, political instability amplified and led to more conflict and instability.