Government

Under the Peruvian constitution, effective in 1980, the chief executive and head of state is the president, who is popularly elected to a five-year term. The president is assisted by a cabinet headed by a prime minister. The constitution provides for a bicameral legislature, the National Congress, consisting of a senate of 60 elected members (plus former constitutional presidents) and a chamber of deputies with 180 members. In a coup in April 1992, the constitution was suspended and the National Congress dissolved. The 1993 constitution established a unicameral national legislature in place of the former National Congress.

Political Parties
The 1990 presidential and legislative elections were dominated by candidates of the Change 90 movement, formed in 1989; the Democratic Front, known as Fredemo, established in 1988 as a center-right coalition; and the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), founded in 1924.

Judiciary
The Peruvian supreme court, which sits in Lima, consists of a president and 12 other judges. The judicature also includes superior courts as well as courts of first instance.

Local Government
Local government is exercised through 25 departmental capital councils.

Health and Welfare
In the late 1980s the average life expectancy in Peru was 66 years for women and 61 years for men; the infant mortality rate was 69 per 1000 live births. Although the government has made some progress in improving medical facilities, sanitation remains inadequate, and a cholera epidemic in 1991 killed more than 1000 Peruvians and sickened another 150,000.

Defense
All males aged 20 to 25 years are liable for two years' service in the Peruvian military. The country's armed forces in the late 1980s included an army of 80,000 members, a navy of 25,000, and an air force of 15,000.