An ongoing long-term political crisis began in Peru during the presidency of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in late 2016 and has substantially worsened under the rule of his various successors. The crisis has been marked by mass protests, labor strikes, corruption scandals, rising crime levels, political violence, and political instability that has led the country into a state of democratic backsliding and emerging authoritarianism.
Under Kuczynski's term, Peru had a divided government, with the Congress of the Republic being held by the right-wing opposition parties of Popular Force, led by Keiko Fujimori, and its allies. This state of division within the government led to conflict between the executive and legislative branches of government. After a series of corruption scandals and attempts to remove him, Kuczysnki resigned under major pressure in March 2018. His successor, Martín Vizcarra, led a more confrontational approach towards Congress, vowing major reforms against corruption. As a result of the conflict, Vizcarra dissolved Congress in September 2019, sparking a constitutional crisis and snap legislative elections in January 2020, which led to Popular Force losing its majority in Congress. Vizcarra would later be impeached and then removed from office in November 2020, with Congress installing Manuel Merino as president. The removal was widely categorized as a coup d'état, which led to mass protests and Merino's resignation after five days in office. He was later replaced with Francisco Sagasti.
Under Sagasti's term, general elections were held, which led to the left-wing Pedro Castillo defeating Keiko Fujimori from Popular Force in the presidential election. As a result, Fujimori and her allies attempted to overturn the election, leading to an electoral crisis and allegations of a coup. However, Castillo was nonetheless declared as winner and was inaugurated regularly. Under his term, right-wing parties returned to a majority in Congress, which led to a more divisive conflict emerging. Castillo endured major obstructionist efforts amidst his presidency. After several attempts to remove him, Castillo attempted a self-coup by illegally dissolving Congress in December 2022, which promptly led to his removal. His vice president and successor, Dina Boluarte, then allied herself with the right-wing Congress, which led to mass unrest and a widely-criticized crackdown on dissent. During her presidency, Fujimorists and their right-wing allies packed institutions and consolidated power, which led to accelerated democratic erosion. After a major security crisis emerged and further protests occurred, Boluarte was removed from office in October 2025 and replaced by José Jerí; however, protests continued under his administration. Jerí himself would be removed from office four months later for a corruption scandal that emerged after he had undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen. In the aftermath of the 2026 general election's first round, candidate Rafael López Aliaga made widespread allegations of electoral fraud amidst voting delays caused by ONPE, leading to an electoral crisis. The second round would be won by Fujimori, furthering the crisis as candidate Roberto Sánchez refused to concede and instead falsely claimed that electoral fraud had occurred in a similar manner to what Fujimori had done five years prior.
Throughout the crisis, many human rights organizations have criticized the government's reaction to protests, while other non-governmental organizations have warned of accelerating democratic backsliding. Nominations for the Constitutional Tribunal that lacked transparency were condemned by United States Congress members in a July 2023 letter to President Joe Biden. The United Nations has also criticized the terruqueo fearmongering tactic used by Fujimorists and the Peruvian government to paint dissidents as terrorist sympathizers. Merino's response to the 2020 protests and Castillo's response to the 2022 protests were both also criticized for use of excessive force and both were labeled as authoritarians as a result. Under the government of Dina Bolaurte, over 80 deaths were reported during protests, with an attorney from the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos stated that the impunity rate for extrajudicial killings was "close to 100%". A wide range of human rights violations were also reported by NGOs to have been committed by the government of Boluarte, including massacres in Ayacucho and Juliaca. Boluarte's government was later labeled as "a growing militaristic government" as a result of the heavy influence of the armed forces within government and its undemocratic tendencies. The Peruvian Public Ministry controversy also revealed how independent institutions were packed with government supporters, further crushing dissent. As a result, Peru has been labeled a "failed democracy".
Political corruption has also dominated the crisis greatly, with almost all of Peru's living former presidents having been investigated or convicted of such. As a result, support for established political parties in the country has plummeted, while confidence in politicians has also fallen as a result. During their rule, Fujimorists had "earned a reputation as hardline obstructionists for blocking initiatives popular with Peruvians aimed at curbing the nation’s rampant corruption" according to the Associated Press, while another political analyst described Congress as being infiltrated by criminal organizations "that obstruct reforms to maintain their status and parliamentary immunity". Much of Peru's population also views Congress as being more focused on personal gain, vote trading, and advancing their political agenda rather than the issues facing the nation, especially corruption. Decades of economic inequality between the interior of the nation and the primate city Lima has also plagued the nation, with this inequality being attributed to both racism and endemic corruption.
An ongoing long-term political crisis began in Peru during the presidency of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in late 2016 and has substantially worsened under the rule of his various successors. The crisis has been marked by mass protests, labor strikes, corruption scandals, rising crime levels, political violence, and political instability that has led the country into a state of democratic backsliding and emerging authoritarianism.
Under Kuczynski's term, Peru had a divided government, with the Congress of the Republic being held by the right-wing opposition parties of Popular Force, led by Keiko Fujimori, and its allies. This state of division within the government led to conflict between the executive and legislative branches of government. After a series of corruption scandals and attempts to remove him, Kuczysnki resigned under major pressure in March 2018. His successor, Martín Vizcarra, led a more confrontational approach towards Congress, vowing major reforms against corruption. As a result of the conflict, Vizcarra dissolved Congress in September 2019, sparking a constitutional crisis and snap legislative elections in January 2020, which led to Popular Force losing its majority in Congress. Vizcarra would later be impeached and then removed from office in November 2020, with Congress installing Manuel Merino as president. The removal was widely categorized as a coup d'état, which led to mass protests and Merino's resignation after five days in office. He was later replaced with Francisco Sagasti.
Under Sagasti's term, general elections were held, which led to the left-wing Pedro Castillo defeating Keiko Fujimori from Popular Force in the presidential election. As a result, Fujimori and her allies attempted to overturn the election, leading to an electoral crisis and allegations of a coup. However, Castillo was nonetheless declared as winner and was inaugurated regularly. Under his term, right-wing parties returned to a majority in Congress, which led to a more divisive conflict emerging. Castillo endured major obstructionist efforts amidst his presidency. After several attempts to remove him, Castillo attempted a self-coup by illegally dissolving Congress in December 2022, which promptly led to his removal. His vice president and successor, Dina Boluarte, then allied herself with the right-wing Congress, which led to mass unrest and a widely-criticized crackdown on dissent. During her presidency, Fujimorists and their right-wing allies packed institutions and consolidated power, which led to accelerated democratic erosion. After a major security crisis emerged and further protests occurred, Boluarte was removed from office in October 2025 and replaced by José Jerí; however, protests continued under his administration. Jerí himself would be removed from office four months later for a corruption scandal that emerged after he had undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen. In the aftermath of the 2026 general election's first round, candidate Rafael López Aliaga made widespread allegations of electoral fraud amidst voting delays caused by ONPE, leading to an electoral crisis. The second round would be won by Fujimori, furthering the crisis as candidate Roberto Sánchez refused to concede and instead falsely claimed that electoral fraud had occurred in a similar manner to what Fujimori had done five years prior.
Throughout the crisis, many human rights organizations have criticized the government's reaction to protests, while other non-governmental organizations have warned of accelerating democratic backsliding. Nominations for the Constitutional Tribunal that lacked transparency were condemned by United States Congress members in a July 2023 letter to President Joe Biden. The United Nations has also criticized the terruqueo fearmongering tactic used by Fujimorists and the Peruvian government to paint dissidents as terrorist sympathizers. Merino's response to the 2020 protests and Castillo's response to the 2022 protests were both also criticized for use of excessive force and both were labeled as authoritarians as a result. Under the government of Dina Bolaurte, over 80 deaths were reported during protests, with an attorney from the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos stated that the impunity rate for extrajudicial killings was "close to 100%". A wide range of human rights violations were also reported by NGOs to have been committed by the government of Boluarte, including massacres in Ayacucho and Juliaca. Boluarte's government was later labeled as "a growing militaristic government" as a result of the heavy influence of the armed forces within government and its undemocratic tendencies. The Peruvian Public Ministry controversy also revealed how independent institutions were packed with government supporters, further crushing dissent. As a result, Peru has been labeled a "failed democracy".
Political corruption has also dominated the crisis greatly, with almost all of Peru's living former presidents having been investigated or convicted of such. As a result, support for established political parties in the country has plummeted, while confidence in politicians has also fallen as a result. During their rule, Fujimorists had "earned a reputation as hardline obstructionists for blocking initiatives popular with Peruvians aimed at curbing the nation’s rampant corruption" according to the Associated Press, while another political analyst described Congress as being infiltrated by criminal organizations "that obstruct reforms to maintain their status and parliamentary immunity". Much of Peru's population also views Congress as being more focused on personal gain, vote trading, and advancing their political agenda rather than the issues facing the nation, especially corruption. Decades of economic inequality between the interior of the nation and the primate city Lima has also plagued the nation, with this inequality being attributed to both racism and endemic corruption.
Background
Following the collapse of the Fujimori regime in November 2000, his political legacy was followed by his daughter Keiko Fujimori, who led the FujimoristPopular Force party. Fujimori and her party, as well as their right-wing allies in Congress, led an obstructionist campaign during the presidency of Ollanta Humala, who led a weak presidency as a result and was essentially powerless.
The 2016 elections had some of the largest political blocs at the time, Popular Force led by Keiko Fujimori, Broad Front led by Verónika Mendoza and Peruvians for Change directed by Kuczynski. At first, it was believed that both the Congress and the Presidency would be occupied by the members of Popular Force due to their overwhelming majority; the other two parties already mentioned occupied the third and second place respectively. Mendoza (who was in third place) decided to ask her voters to support the election of the Peruvians for Change party so that she could achieve power. The objective of the Broad Front was to counteract the large number of voters who had Popular Force. This objective was half-fulfilled, since Kuczynski came to the Presidency by a narrow margin, while Popular Force managed to maintain hegemony in Congress.
In the Constitution of Peru, Article 113 allows for the removal of the President of Peru for "moral incapacity", with the measure existing since the 1839 Constitution of Peru. The term was originally meant to refer to mental disorders, and was juxtaposed to "physical incapacity". The Constitution of Ecuador notably had a similar cause for impeachment, but it was later reworded as "mental incapacity". Until 2004, there was not a concrete procedure to enact the vacancy of a president, with the Constitutional Court of Peru recommending a clarified process. In recent times, however, "moral incacapacity" had been reinterpreted as meaning literal "inmoral" behavior. As a result, Congress can basically impeach the President of Peru without cause, effectively making the legislature more powerful than the executive branch.
On 17 August 2017, members of Congress belonging to Popular Force filed a motion of interpellation against the Minister of Education Marilú Martens who was in negotiations with the representatives of the teachers, in search of the solution to a prolonged teacher strike. On 25 August, the plenary session of the Congress approved the motion of interpellation, with 79 votes in favor, 12 against and 6 abstentions. The votes in favor were from the bench of Popular Force, APRA, Broad Front and Popular Action. The date of the interpellation was set as 8 September. Martens answered a list of 40 questions, mainly about the teachers' strike that still persisted. Martens acknowledged deficiencies in facing the teachers' strike, but assured that her management would not reverse the recognition of meritocracy within the teaching profession. On 13 September, the Popular Force congresspeople announced that they would submit a motion of censure against Martens, since they claimed that she had not responded satisfactorily to the questions of the interpellation. Faced with this threat of censorship (which would be the second against a head of Education in less than a year), Prime Minister Fernando Zavala asked Congress a question of confidence for the full ministerial cabinet. Zavala's request was criticized by Congress, stating that Zavala was in solidarity with a minister who was questioned, endangering her entire cabinet, and even more, when the motion of censure had not yet been made official. It was also said that the "renewal of trust" was something that the Constitution did not contemplate. In any case, the Board of Spokespersons of the Congress summoned Zavala on 14 September to support her request for confidence. Zavala presented himself to the plenary session of the Congress with the ministers and presented his request in 12 minutes; his argument focused on the government's intention to defend the education policy that was intended, according to him, to undermine the education minister's censure. Then they proceeded to the parliamentary debate. The question of trust was debated for 7 hours and voted on 15 September. The cabinet failed to obtain the confidence of the Parliament, which voted against the confidence with 77, which produced the total crisis of the cabinet.
On 17 September, Second Vice President Mercedes Aráoz was sworn in as president of the Council of Ministers of Peru and with this, five new ministers were announced: Claudia Cooper Fort (Economy), Idel Vexler (Education), Enrique Mendoza Ramírez (Justice and Human Rights), Fernando d'Alessio (Health) and Carlos Bruce (Housing). The new head of the cabinet was sworn in with the 18 ministers in a ceremony held in the Court of Honor of the Government Palace. On 6 October, the vote of confidence was given and if it were to fail, the president would have the right to dissolve Congress and call new elections, as the Constitution of 1993 said. The vote of confidence was delayed until 12 October, beginning with the exhibitions of the new cabinet led by Aráoz and subsequent intervention of the different political caucuses of the Congress until the next day. It resulted in 83 votes in favor and 17 against.
Many political figureheads such as the media reported on the denial of confidence in the first cabinet; journalist Rosa María Palacios sent a message to the president asking him to dissolve the Congress and warned that "Fujimorism has been trapped. Journalist César Hildebrandt also sent a message to the president saying that "the country requires him to confront the Fujimorist Congress". A former constitutional lawyer in an interview said that the former president of the Council of Ministers Fernando Zavala "is sacrificing for state policies", the former president of the Council of Ministers Pedro Cateriano warned that "Keiko Fujimori, leader of the Popular Force party, wants to lead a coup d'etat".
On 15 November, through Bill No. 2133, Congressman Mauricio Mulder presented the Mulder Law, which prohibited state advertising in private media and on 28 February 2018 approved the bill by the Permanent Commission of the Congress with 20 in favor, 3 against and 14 abstentions. The ruling was approved at the urging of APRA and Fujimorism on 15 June 2018 with 70 votes in favor, 30 against and 7 abstentions. and it was published on 18 June 2018 in the Legal Rules of the Official Gazette El Peruano.
In November 2017, the Lava Jato Commission, a congressional commission chaired by Rosa Bartra investigating Odebrecht and its activities in Peru, as well as the concurrent scandal, received confidential information that President Kuczynski had had labor ties with this company, which went back to the time when he was both Prime Minister and the Minister of the Economy between 2004 and 2006, under the government of Alejandro Toledo, despite the fact that since the outbreak of the Odebrecht case, Kuczynski had denied him on several occasions.
The Commission then asked the Odebrecht company for details of its relationship with Kuczynski, which were publicly disclosed on 13 December. It was revealed then that Westfield Capital, an investment banking advisory firm, founded and directed by Kuczynski had carried out seven consultancies for Odebrecht between November 2004 and December 2007 for millions of dollars, that is, coinciding with the time when Kuczynski had been Minister of Economy (2004–2005) and Prime Minister (2005–2006). The information also revealed that another company closely related to Kuczynski, First Capital, formed by its Chilean partner Gerardo Sepúlveda, had also provided consulting services for Odebrecht between 2005 and 2013.
First attempted impeachment
The opposition, led by Popular Force, demanded the resignation of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and threatened his impeachment if he did not do so. The Broad Front support holding an immediate impeachment vote. On 14 December, Kuczynski, through a message to the nation, denied the accusations and said he would not resign his position.
I am here to tell you: I am not going to abdicate my honor or my values or my responsibilities as president of all Peruvians,
— Pedro Pablo Kuczynski
In his defense, he claimed to have no relationship with the company First Capital, which was the sole property of Sepúlveda, and that only one of the payments mentioned had to do with him, the one dated in 2012, when he no longer held any ministerial positions. As for Westfield Capital, although he acknowledged that it was his sole proprietorship, he affirmed that he was never under his direction and administration while he was Prime Minister, and that the contracts dated at that time had been signed by Sepúlveda, his partner. He also noted that all payments to his company were legal, and that they were duly registered, billed and banked. Kuczunski's explanations did not convince the opposition, and he was accused of continuing to lie, especially in relation to the fact that he had left Westfield Capital when he was minister, when, according to public records, he always figured as director of that company. Although PPK argued that there had been a "Chinese wall", an expression used in business to refer to when the partner or owner has no contact or receive information on the management of the company, while in public office (but in the case of Wesfield Capital, being a company where Kuczynski was its sole agent, it is unclear how this "Chinese wall" could be made). Faced with the refusal of the president to resign, several of the opposition caucuses of Congress then proposed to submit their position to the vacancy.
The Broad Front submitted a motion for the vacancy request to be debated in the plenary session of the Congress. The congresspersons of Popular Force, APRA and the Alliance for Progress joined the request and the motion surpassed more than the 26 signatures needed to proceed with the process. Once the motion was approved, the debate began on 15 December and lasted until later that day. The opposition legislators who introduced the motion cited a moral incapacity when they denounced that the president lied in the statements he gave about his ties with Odebrecht. The congresspeople demanded that the due process be followed, reproaching the fact that the opposition proceeded with unusual speed and that several of its members had already decided to empty the president without having heard his defense. They also questioned the fact that a single report from Odebrecht was considered sufficient evidence, thereby overtly dispensing with the investigation that demanded such a delicate and far-reaching case.
According to the regulations, the vote of 40% of competent congressmen was needed for the admission of the vacancy request. As 118 congressmen were present, only 48 votes were needed, which was widely exceeded, as they voted 93 in favor and 17 against; these last ones were, in their great majority, those of the pro-government caucus.
Once the vacancy request was approved, the Congress agreed that on 21 December, Kuczynski should appear before the plenary session of the Congress to make his disclaimers; then it would proceed to debate and finally vote to decide the presidential vacancy, needed for this 87 votes of the total of 130 congressmen.