The Congress of the Republic of Peru ( ) or the National Congress of Peru ( ) is the body that assumes legislative power in Peru.

Congress consists of 120 members of congress (congresistas), who are elected for five year periods in office on a proportional representation basis. To be eligible, candidates must be Peruvian citizens, have passed their 25th birthday, and not have had their right to vote suspended.The last congressional election was held on April 9, 2006, concurrently with the presidential election.

The current President of Congress is Luis Alva Castro, a former Vice-President and Prime Minister of the APRA political party

Currently the Peruvian congress congregates at the Palacio Legislativo del Perú, which is located in the Historical Center of Lima, across the road from Plaza Simón Bolívar and a few blocks away from Casa de Pizarro.

Historical

Under its 1980 constitution (adopted in 1979 and abrogated in 1993), Peru had a bicameral Congress, made up of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. The Senate had 60 members; the Chamber, 180. Members of both chambers were elected for five-year terms, running concurrently with that of the president. Party-list proportional representation was used for both chambers: on a regional basis for the Senate, and using the D'Hondt method for the lower house. Members of both houses had to be Peruvian citizens, with a minimum age of 25 for deputies and 35 for senators.

Following the auto-coup of 1992, in which Congress was dissolved, the Democratic Constitutional Congress established a single chamber of 120 members.

Composition of the Peruvian Congress

Peruvian Congress of 1995-2000

On July 27, 1995 a new unicameral Congress was created with the following distribution by political party:

• Change 90-New Majority (Alberto Fujimori): 74 seats.
• Independents: 16 seats.
• Union for Peru (Javier Pérez de Cuéllar): 8 seats.
• Christian People's Party (Luis Bedoya Reyes): 7 seats.
• Peruvian Aprista Party (Jorge Del Castillo): 7 seats.
• Popular Action (Fernando Belaúnde): 6 seats.
• Democracy in Action: 6 seats.

Peruvian Congress of 2000-2001

On July 27, 2000 the Congress of the Republic was established. This Congressional period was marked with various episodes of members of Congress switching their party affiliation. The following distribution marks seats by party at the end of the 2000-2001 term:

• Peru Possible (Alejandro Toledo): 21 seats.
• Let's Go Neighbor (Alberto Fujimori): 18 seats.
• Peru 2000 (Alberto Fujimori): 18 seats.
• Sin agrupación: 16 seats.
• No Agrupados: 11 congresistas.
• Parliamentary Independent Group: 10 congresistas.
• Independent Moralizing Front (Fernando Olivera): 7 seats.
• With Force Peru (Pedro Koechlin): 7 seats.
• Democratic Parliamentary Group: 6 seats.
• Popular Action-Union for Peru (Fernando Belaúnde and José Vega): 6 seats.

Peruvian Congress of 2001-2006

On July 21, 2001 a new Congress of the Peruvian Republic was established the following is a distribution of Congress members by political party affiliation:

• Peru Possible (Alejandro Toledo): 35 seats
• Peruvian Aprista Party (Alan García): 28 seats
• National Unity (Lourdes Flores): 12 seats
• Independent Moralizing Front (Fernando Olivera): 7 seats
• Peru Now (Luis Guerrero): 6 seats
• Other parties: 27 seats

Peruvian Congress of 2006-2011

A new Peruvian Congress of the Republic was established in July 2006 with the following distribution:

• Union for Peru (Ollanta Humala): 45 seats.
• Peruvian Aprista Party (Alan García): 36 seats.
• National Unity (Lourdes Flores): 17 seats.
• Alliance for the Future (Martha Chávez): 13 seats.
• Center Front (Valentín Paniagua): 5 seats.
• Peru Possible (Alejandro Toledo): 2 seats.
• National Restoration (Humberto Lay): 2 seats.

Presidents of Congress

Presidents of the Congress of the Republic

Beginning of Term	End of Term	Name of President	Political Party	Party Leader
July 27, 1995	July 26, 1996	Martha Chávez	Change 90-New Majority	Alberto Fujimori
July 27, 1996	July 26, 1997	Víctor Joy Way	Change 90-New Majority	Alberto Fujimori
July 27, 1997	July 26,1998	Carlos Torres y Torres Lara	Change 90-New Majority	Alberto Fujimori
July 27, 1998	July 26, 1999	Víctor Joy Way	Change 90-New Majority	Alberto Fujimori
July 27, 1999	November 13, 2000	Martha Hildebrandt	Peru 2000	Alberto Fujimori
November 16, 2000	November 21, 2000	Luz Salgado¹	Peru 2000	Alberto Fujimori
November 16, 2000	November 22, 2000	Valentín Paniagua Corazao²	Popular Action	Fernando Belaúnde
December 15, 2000	July 26, 2001	Carlos Ferrero Costa³	Peru Possible	Alejandro Toledo
July 27, 2001	July 26, 2003	Carlos Ferrero Costa	Peru Possible	Alejandro Toledo
July 27, 2003	July 26, 2004	Henry Pease	Peru Possible	Alejandro Toledo
July 27, 2004	July 26, 2005	Antero Flores Aráoz	National Unity	Lourdes Flores
July 27, 2005	July 26, 2006	Marcial Ayaipoma	Peru Possible	Alejandro Toledo
July 27, 2006	July 26, 2007	Mercedes Cabanillas	Peruvian Aprista Party	Alan García
July 27, 2007	July 26, 2008	Luis Gonzales	Peruvian Aprista Party	Alan García
July 27, 2008	July 26, 2009	Luis Alva Castro	Peruvian Aprista Party	Alan García

External links

• Official Peruvian Congress Site
• List of all Members of Congress