ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to identify the bases of the new partisan alignment and the balance of power between major civilian political forces. It addresses the question: Is there any reason to believe that the contemporary system will prove more viable than the former one? In an effort to answer this question and to better understand the political party system in Peru in the 1980s, the chapter focuses on the most salient events in the construction of the new party system: the opening of democratic participation through the Constituent Assembly. The military had been fairly successful with the Constituent Assembly. It had not become a forum for debating regime policies and work had been limited to drafting a constitution. An important feature of the Constituent Assembly had been the large number of delegates representing the political left. For most of the revolutionary left, elections were not viewed as practical or appropriate mechanisms for reaching their goals.
