Constitution of Peru

The Political Constitution of the Republic of Peru (Spanish: Constitución Política del Perú; Southern Quechua: Perú Suyu Hatun Kamay Pirwa 1993) is the supreme law of Peru. The current constitution, enacted on 31 December 1993, is Peru's fifth in the 20th century and replaced the 1979 Constitution. The Constitution was drafted by the Democratic Constituent Congress that was convened by President Alberto Fujimori during the Peruvian Constitutional Crisis of 1992 that followed his 1992 self-coup and dissolution of Congress, and was promulgated on 29 December 1993. A Democratic Constitutional Congress (CCD) was elected in 1992, and the final text was approved in a 1993 referendum. The Constitution was primarily created by Fujimori and supporters without the participation of any opposing entities.

The 1993 Constitution of Peru differed originally from the 1979 Constitution in that it gave 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 prime ministers three times, the 1993 constitution allows the president to do so after only two censures. The Constitution allows the president to decree laws as long as they first informs the Congress of their intent to do so. If the president dissolves Congress, the Constitution gives them 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. Following the ouster of President Alberto Fujimori, the Constitution was amended to bar the president from immediate re-election, a status quo that had prevailed for most of the time since the Great Depression. Subsequent constitutional amendments, laws of Congress, and Constitutional Court rulings have further changed the rules of interaction among branches of government.

To December 2024, the current Constitution of Peru had been subject to 30 amendments since 1995, most of which had been approved by Congress supermajority votes, and just 3 of those amendments had been ratified by a 2018 referendum. Since the 2020 Peruvian protests, calls for the creation of a constituent assembly have been made in Peru, with the majority of Peruvians showing approval of a new constitution in 2023.

Peru has had twelve constitutions (1823, 1826, 1828, 1834, 1839, 1856, 1860, 1867, 1920, 1933, 1979 and 1993), four provisional statutes (1821, 1855, 1879 and 1883) and one confederate constitution during Peru–Bolivian Confederation (1837).

The Political Constitution of the Peruvian Republic (Spanish: Constitución Política de la República Peruana) was written by the first Constituent Congress of Peru and promulgated by President José Bernardo de Tagle on November 12, 1823. It was almost completely suspended in order to allow Simón Bolívar's campaign to be planned carefully. It was re-established on June 11, 1827, and abolished the next year.

The Constitution for the Peruvian Republic (Spanish: Constitución para la República Peruana), also known as the Lifetime Constitution (Spanish: Constitución Vitalicia) was written by Simón Bolívar and promulgated by a government council led by Andrés de Santa Cruz. It was similar to the Bolivian constitution, and a planned Colombian constitution, with the three countries being part of Bolívar's intent to establish a Federation in South America. The anti-Bolivarian sentiment that erupted in Peru at the time suspended the constitution after 49 days, with the 1823 constitution being re-established the next year.

The Political Constitution of the Peruvian Republic (Spanish: Constitución Política de la República Peruana) was promulgated on March 18, 1828, by President José de la Mar. Despite its short duration, its importance lies in the fact that it laid the constitutional foundations of Peru, serving as a model for the following constitutions, for almost a century.

The Political Constitution of the Peruvian Republic (Spanish: Constitución Política de la República Peruana) was approved by the National Convention in Lima and promulgated on June 10, 1834, by provisional president Luis José de Orbegoso. This document legally paved the way for the federation of Peru with Bolivia, and was soon abolished due to the establishment of the Peru–Bolivian Confederation, which itself established two constitutions for its constituent countries of North Peru and South Peru.