Constitution of Peru

The Constitution of Peru is the supreme law of Peru. The current constitution, enacted on December 31, 1993, is Peru's fifth in the 20th century and replaced the 1979 Constitution. The Constitution was drafted by the Democratic Constitutional Congress that was convened by President Alberto Fujimori during the Peruvian Constitutional Crisis of 1992 that followed his 1992 dissolution of Congress, was promulgated on December 29, 1993. A Democratic Constitutional Congress (CCD) was elected in 1992, and the final text was approved in a 1993 referendum.

The current Constitution of Peru differs from the 1979 Constitution in that it gives greater power to the president. For example, it allowed for reelection, reduced the bicameral 240-member congress to a unicameral 120 Congress of the Republic, not only affirmed the president's power to veto found in the 1979 Constitution, but also gave him the power to use a line item veto, and mandated that all tax laws receive prior approval by the Ministry of Economics and Finance. While the Constitution of 1979 allowed the president to dissolve congress after congress censured cabinet members three times, the current constitution allows the president to do so after only two censures. The Constitution allows the president to decree laws as long as he first informs the Congress of his intent to do so. If the president dissolves congress, the Constitution gives him the power to rule until the election of a new Congress within a four month timeline, during which time the Standing Committee of the dissolved Congress will remain functioning.