Peru's Congress to adopt bicameral system and rotate presidency from 2026

Peru will return to a bicameral Congress for the 2026‑2031 parliamentary term, ending more than three decades of unicameralism. The reform creates separate Senate and Chamber of Deputies, each with its own directorial board, and establishes an alternating presidency: the Senate president will lead the Congress in the first year, followed by the Chamber president in the second year, with the rotation continuing annually.

Civil‑society leader José Gargurevich, executive director of Proética, warned that the new legislature must improve transparency and oversight. He criticised the outgoing unicameral Congress for opaque budgeting – the budget rose from roughly 600 million to over 1.2 billion soles – and for being excluded from the Comptroller General’s control. Gargurevich called for reinstating external audit rules, creating an independent ethics body of specialists, and publishing a detailed lobby register that records meetings between legislators and interest groups. He said, “the first political gesture both chambers must make is to submit again to the rules of governmental control… the citizen must know how the budget is requested and executed.”