General elections were held in Peru on 11 April 2021. The presidential election, which determined the president and the vice presidents, required a run-off between the two top candidates, which was held on 6 June. The congressional elections determined the composition of the Congress of Peru, with all 130 seats contested.
Pedro Castillo, a member of the left-wing Free Peru party, received the most votes in the first round. In the second round he faced Keiko Fujimori, the leader of the right-wing populist Popular Force who had previously lost the run-offs of the 2011 and the 2016 elections. Both candidates were surprise contenders; Fujimori had initially been discounted due to her preventive imprisonment for a year, while Castillo was a political newcomer who was previously unknown to the public.
The official count of the second round by the National Office of Electoral Processes indicated that Castillo had won with 50.13% of the vote, a lead of 44,263 over Fujimori. However, the declaration of an official outcome certifying the result by the National Jury of Elections was delayed following accusations of electoral fraud by opposition politicians. Castillo was ultimately named president-elect by the National Jury of Elections on 19 July, and was inaugurated on 28 July. The opposition gained control of Congress.
General elections were held in Peru on 11 April 2021. The presidential election, which determined the president and the vice presidents, required a run-off between the two top candidates, which was held on 6 June. The congressional elections determined the composition of the Congress of Peru, with all 130 seats contested.
Pedro Castillo, a member of the left-wing Free Peru party, received the most votes in the first round. In the second round he faced Keiko Fujimori, the leader of the right-wing populist Popular Force who had previously lost the run-offs of the 2011 and the 2016 elections. Both candidates were surprise contenders; Fujimori had initially been discounted due to her preventive imprisonment for a year, while Castillo was a political newcomer who was previously unknown to the public.
The official count of the second round by the National Office of Electoral Processes indicated that Castillo had won with 50.13% of the vote, a lead of 44,263 over Fujimori. However, the declaration of an official outcome certifying the result by the National Jury of Elections was delayed following accusations of electoral fraud by opposition politicians. Castillo was ultimately named president-elect by the National Jury of Elections on 19 July, and was inaugurated on 28 July. The opposition gained control of Congress.
Electoral system
Presidential election
The President of Peru is elected using the two-round system. The first round voting was held on 11 April and allows eligible voters to vote for any viable presidential candidate. The top two candidates who receive a plurality of the vote proceed to the run-off election, which took place on 6 June. The winner of the run-off election and the presidential election is the candidate who receives a plurality of the popular vote. However, if in the first round the candidate who is in the first place already gets more than 50% of the popular vote, that candidate will automatically win the election and a run-off election will no longer be needed.
Congressional elections
The 130 members of Congress are elected in 27 multi-member constituencies using open list proportional representation. To enter Congress, parties must either cross the 5% electoral threshold at the national level, or win at least seven seats in one constituency. Seats are allocated using the D'Hondt method.
Andean parliament
Peru has five places in the Andean Parliament, elected using a common constituency by open-list.
Date
Early election proposal
President Martín Vizcarra initially presented legislation that would set the conditions for a snap election in 2020. If successful, Vizcarra would not be eligible for re-election. The 2020 proposed Peruvian general election would be held on 11 April 2020, to elect a new President of the Republic of Peru, along with 130 congressmen of the Congress of Peru. It was eventually decided to be held on 26 January 2020. Opposition lawmakers condemned Vizcarra's proposal, defending the practice of five-year terms. This constitutional reform was rejected.
Official election date
The 2021 Peruvian general election were held on 11 April 2021, to elect the president of the Republic of Peru, two vice presidents of the same party, 130 congressmen of the Congress of Peru and 5 Andean parliamentarians for a five-year term from 2021 to 2026.
On 11 April, 130 congressmen were elected in 27 electoral districts, corresponding to the 24 departments, the Province of Lima, the Constitutional Province of Callao and residents living abroad.
The elected congressmen were to be sworn in and assume office no later than 27 July 2021; the constitutional president of the Republic and his elected vice presidents were scheduled to do so on 28 July 2021.
Presidential nominations
Main presidential nominees
Pedro Castillo is Free Peru's nominee and schoolteacher from Cajamarca. He is a former Ronda Campesina that defended rural areas from the Shining Path in the 1980s, and a politician with the centre-left party Possible Peru from 2002 to 2017. Castillo gained attention in 2017, as he led multiple teacher strikes in five regions against Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's administration. Controversy arose after he participated in a campaign of several virtual meeting with MOVADEF members. Castillo has called for the renegotiation of government contracts with large businesses and to rewrite the constitution to protect Peruvians from foreign control.
Keiko Fujimori is the leader of the conservative and far-right Popular Force. The daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, she still remains a polarizing figure in Peruvian politics since her last presidential run in 2016, but with lower support due to her parliamentary caucus's obstructionist role during the presidencies of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Martín Vizcarra. She continues to be viewed unfavorably by a number of people who oppose Fujimori for human rights abuses and corrupt practices, mostly from the left-wing spectrum, and who fear that her victory would mark a return of Fujimorism. In addition, she has been involved in the Odebrecht scandal, for which she has served in pretrial detention since 2018 with conditional release in 2020. Among her first campaign appearances, she has vowed to pardon her father if winning the presidency in her third run.
Yonhy Lescano is Popular Action's (AP) nominee. Serving in the Peruvian Congress from 2001 to 2019 representing the constituency of Puno then, Lima, he attained the nomination under a left-wing platform in a competitive primary against the more moderate Alfredo Barnechea. His support is based in the highlands, more punctually in Puno and surrounding rural areas. He opposed several times to the decisions of his party, as when Congress was dissolved in 2019, he supported Martín Vizcarra's measure and did not attend to the inauguration of Vice President Mercedes Araoz. His party was politically affected after Vizcarra's impeachment and the sudden rise to power of party member Manuel Merino, who held the position only for five days and promptly resigning after the a series of protests.
Verónika Mendoza is Together for Peru's (JPP) nominee and leader of the democratic socialist New Peru movement. Since she could not register her own party on time for the election, she sealed a political accord with JPP for her presidential run. Her left-wing platform has remained controversial since her first presidential stint in 2016, in which she placed third and was key in Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's run-off victory by endorsing him to prevent Keiko Fujimori to win. She previously served in the Peruvian Congress from 2011 to 2016, representing the constituency of Cuzco.
Rafael López Aliaga is the leader of Popular Renewal. A businessman with no relevant political experience, he gained political traction due to his ultraconservative rhetoric, adding to his self-proclamation as "the Peruvian Bolsonaro" due to his religious views and far-right policies similar to the Brazilian president. His campaign runs under a fully right wing platform opposed to abortion and same-sex marriage. His collaboration with Fujimorists and the Popular Force party of Keiko Fujimori has also been documented. During the campaign his businesses were accused of having a large debt with the SUNAT and of not paying personal debts to the state.
Hernando de Soto is Avanza País's nominee. A free-market economist specialized in informal economy and on the importance of business and property rights, he was a main advisor for President Alberto Fujimori, assisting him with establishing macroeconomic stability for Peru in the aftermath of the Lost Decade. In addition, he has served as an economic advisor to world-leaders since the foundation of the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD), an economic development think-tank based in Lima. In the public sector, he briefly served as a member of the board of directors of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, in 1979. In previous elections, he supported Keiko Fujimori's candidacies, serving as one of her advisors. His party has been described as a mere electoral vehicle by analysts due to his technical profile.
Julio Guzmán is the founder and leader of the Purple Party. A former public administrator, he first ran for the presidency in 2016 for All for Peru, but was disqualified due to irregularities in the nomination process. His party is currently in government with Francisco Sagasti as President of Peru following the removal of Martín Vizcarra and resignation of Manuel Merino, which has affected negatively his campaign due to the government's management of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. In addition, a scandal involving him escaping from a fire in an apartment during a lunch with a supposed mistress revealed in early 2020 further damaged his public image.
Daniel Urresti is a former army general who first attained popularity as Interior Minister in the presidency of Ollanta Humala. Elected to the Peruvian Congress with the highest-vote count in 2020 with Podemos Perú, he attained the party's presidential nomination as the only candidate. He previously ran for the presidency for Peruvian Nationalist Party in 2016, although the party withdrew his ticket from the race, and placed second for mayor of Lima at the 2018 municipal election with Podemos Perú. He is currently under investigation for the murder of a journalist during his years in the Peruvian Army, which has proved negative to his campaign, in addition to his wry media exposure from years prior to Congress.
Daniel Salaverry is We Are Peru's nominee. An architect from La Libertad, he started a career in politics for mayor of Trujillo with the Peruvian Aprista Party in 2010, and Popular Force in 2014. With the latter, he was elected to the Peruvian Congress in 2016. As a member of the majority caucus, he was elected President of Congress in 2018, but quit the caucus as he supposedly received pressure from the Fujimorist leadership to undermine Martín Vizcarra's presidency. As part of his campaign, Vizcarra remains his main political asset for his presidential run due to the former president's congressional candidacy for the constituency of Lima. As of 2021 he had an open investigation in the Public Ministry after being accused of falsifying his reports during his tenure as congressman.
César Acuña is the founder and leader of Alliance for Progress. An entrepreneur in the field of education, he entered politics in 2000 when elected to the Peruvian Congress, in which he served until 2006. Subsequently, he served as mayor of Trujillo from 2007 to 2014, and as governor of La Libertad in 2015. He initially ran for the presidency in the 2016, but was disqualified for alleged vote buying in a campaign trail. In addition, his popularity has diminished due to his party's recent voting records in Congress, thus contradicting his campaign rhetoric, although at first leading the congressional polling after impressively attaining the second largest number of seats at the 2020 parliamentary election.