Peruvian law students at the National University of San Law School Antonio Abad del Cusco (UNSAAC) reports for JURIST on legally relevant events in and affected by Peru. All students come from the Law Student Research Center (CIED), a research center at the UNSAAC Faculty of Law, dedicated to the dissemination of legal information and the improvement of legal culture through study and research, promoting critical and reflective debate to contribute to the country’s development. Inti Daniela Diaz Uscamayta is a law student at UNSAAC and a member of CIED. She submits this dispatch from Cusco.
In Peru, the second round of voting, exclusively for the presidential elections, scheduled for Sunday, June 7, 2026, will be between Keiko Sofia Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez. Fujimori, the candidate of the Fuerza Popular political party, advanced with 17.192% of the vote. Sánchez, the candidate of the Juntos por el Perú political party, emerged as another candidate for whom Peruvians will vote, with 12,039% of the total valid votes.
Following these elections, the electoral cycle planned for 2026 – including presidential, Andean Parliament and national legislative elections – will introduce a bicameral system in line with the constitutional reform Law No. 31988approved by the outgoing Congress in 2024. As a result, the legislature will now consist of a chamber with at least 70 senators and 130 representatives.
The first phase was completed on April 19, when Peruvian citizens had to vote from 43 presidential elections candidates Belonging to different political parties without a clear political orientation. For this reason, the results published by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) – the authority responsible for conducting the elections official count of the 92,766 ballots received drew criticism as it took a week for the official results to be announced. It turned out that none of the 43 candidates exceeded the threshold of 50% plus one required by Peruvian law.
The results of the April 19 election surprised most people because, on the one hand, the runoff election would once again be between a radical left-wing party and a conservative right-wing party. For the fourth time in a row, Fujimori’s candidate was re-elected and advanced to the runoff, this time against Sánchez, who was the surprise of these elections. He was not among the leading candidates in polls before election day, nor did he have strong support in the capital, where the majority of the country’s voters are concentrated.
With the arrival of these presidential elections in Peru, debates have begun between the two candidates. However, this year’s debates are significantly different from those in 2021, when there was only one official debate between this year’s candidates: Keiko Fujimori from Fuerza Popular and Pedro Castillo, representative of Peru Libre. This debate was organized by the National Electoral Commission (JNE), the autonomous constitutional body that ensures the transparency of all electoral processes in Peru.
There will now be two debates dealing with issues arising from coordination between the JNE and the political parties selected for the second round of elections. The first debate took place on May 24 and was not held directly between Fujimori and Sánchez, but between the technical teams of both parties. Fujimori’s team included Vladimiro Huaroc Portocarrero, Rosangella Andrea Barbarán Reyes, Marco Antonio Vinelli Ruiz, Carlos Alberto Neuhaus Tudela, Luis Julián Martín Carranza Ugarte and José Francisco Recoba Martínez. Sánchez’s team included Pedro Francke, Óscar Dancourt, Sinesio López, Rosendo Serna, Hernando Cevallos, Jorge Manco Zaconetti, Enrique Bissetti and José De Echave, as stated by the candidates themselves. These technical teams discussed their government plans for an hour and 40 minutes. During the debate Topics Topics such as public security, democratic strengthening, education and health, economy, employment and poverty reduction were discussed.
The last debate between the two candidates took place on May 31, with both Keiko and Sánchez having the opportunity to present their proposals focused on various areas of national importance. The aim was to secure first place and an absolute majority in the results of the upcoming elections on June 7 and to allow Peruvians to vote as informed as possible, since the debate was broadcast on free-to-air television on the national channel TV PERÚ, in accordance with the instructions of the National Electoral Commission (JNE).
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