LIMA, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, who has said she is leading a transitional government, urged the country's Congress to pass a proposal to bring forward general elections in a news conference from the presidential palace on Saturday. Boluarte, formerly Peru's vice president, assumed the presidency earlier this month after leftist ex-President Pedro Castillo tried to illegally dissolve Congress and was arrested. Since then, protests have broken out across the country, and at least 17 people have been killed. On Friday, Peru's Congress rejected the proposed constitutional reform to move elections forward to December 2023. "I demand that the vote to bring elections up be reconsidered," Boluarte said, criticizing Congress members who had previously abstained from voting.

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