Shaken By Corruption, Peruvians Back Major Government Overhaul

Shaken by a string of high-profile corruption scandals, Peruvians overwhelmingly approved a government overhaul that among other things sends all members of Congress packing by 2021

Lima, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Dec, 2018 ) :Shaken by a string of high-profile corruption scandals, Peruvians overwhelmingly approved a government overhaul that among other things sends all members of Congress packing by 2021.

Three of the four constitutional reforms proposed by President Martin Vizcarra were approved by nearly 80 percent of voters in a Sunday referendum.

Sick of a do-nothing Congress with leading legislators tainted by corruption and scandal, 78 percent of voters approved a measure banning consecutive re-election, according to official results with more than half of the vote counted.

That means that all 130 members of Peru's single-chamber legislature will be out of a job when their mandates end in July 2021.

Also approved were reforms on the way judges are chosen, and tighter campaign financing laws that include criminal penalties for violators.

However more than 81 percent of voters opposed a proposal to return Peru to a dual-chamber legislature -- a sign of how disgusted voters are with the current crop of politicians.

Vizcarra initially supported the dual-chamber proposal, but later opposed it because it included limits on presidential authority.