Congress (Spanish: Congreso) is the name given to Peru's unicameral legislature under the current (1993) constitution.
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 most recent congressional election was held on 8 April 2001. It produced the following distribution of seats:
The next congressional election is slated to be held on 9 April 2006.
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 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.