The Redefinition of Actors and Political Geography in Peru at the end of the Nineteenth Century

The article analyzes the reasons that motivated the decision to guarantee voting rights to literate people only in Peru and the change towards a direct suffrage. This brought consequences such as the restriction of the electoral body, the introduction of changes in the citizen profile, the political geography of the country and the selection criteria for members of the parliament. Behind these measures taken by government elites was the attempt to propose the construction of a modernizing political project and the idea of a new kind of State and Nation. Indigenous people were considered useless and inappropriate for these projects. Different primary sources were used to explore these topics, including legislative and constitutional documents, parliamentary debates as well as electoral registers and minutes.