Background
The election is being held after a prolonged period of political instability that began well before the current electoral cycle. During the presidencies of Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Martín Vizcarra, the Congress was dominated by the opposition Popular Force, the party created by the daughter of the former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, Keiko Fujimori, and opposed many of the actions performed by the presidents. [12] [13] [14] Fujimorists in Congress "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. [15]
Following the 2021 Peruvian general election, far right parties, including Go on Country, and Popular Renewal, gained control of Congress. [16] [17] [18] After left-wing presidential candidate Pedro Castillo won the presidency, Fujimori and her supporters made claims of electoral fraud, leading obstructionist efforts to overturn the election with support of citizens in Lima. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] Many business groups and politicians refused to recognize Castillo's ascent to the presidency, with those among the more affluent, including former military officers and wealthy families, demanded new elections, promoted calls for a military coup, and used rhetoric to support their allegations of fraud. [20] From the beginning of his presidency, Castillo was targeted by Congress, [26] whom made it clear that they wanted to remove him from office by impeachment. [27]
Due to broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the Constitution of Peru (1993), Congress can impeach the president on the vague grounds of "moral incapacity", [28] effectively making the legislature more powerful than the executive branch. [29] [30] [31] [32] Congress, which had already attempted to impeach Castillo twice, began a third process of impeachment in late 2022. On 7 December 2022, Castillo attempted a self-coup, dissolving Congress as well as the Judiciary bodies, imposing a curfew, and establishing an emergency government. He was arguing that the legislative body, which had obstructed many of his policies, [33] [34] [35] was serving oligopolistic businesses and had colluded with the Constitutional Court of Peru to undermine the executive branch, thereby creating a "congressional dictatorship". [33] The move was rejected by state institutions and he was removed from office and arrested. [36] Two months after Castillo was removed, Congress would obtain nearly absolute control of Peru's government when the Constitutional Court, whose members were directly chosen by Congress, removed judicial oversight of the legislative body. [37] [38] [39]
Castillo's vice president, Dina Boluarte, assumed the presidency amid the widespread protests against her government. Following her ascension to the presidency, Boluarte aligned herself with the far-right Congress. [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] She was described by analysts as authoritarian due to her crackdown on demonstrations, [45] with human rights groups such as Amnesty International, [46] Human Rights Watch, [47] the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [48] and the National Coordinator for Human Rights [49] criticizing her administration's response, especially after the Ayacucho and Juliaca massacres. Although proposals were repeatedly introduced to bring forward the scheduled 2026 vote, they were rejected by Congress. In October 2025, Boluarte was removed from office by Congress on "moral incapacity" grounds amid mounting public anger over insecurity and corruption allegations.
In his position in the order of succession, president of Congress José Jerí succeeded Boluarte, initially assumed the presidency leading into the 2026 elections. [50] Jerí became Peru's seventh president in nine years. [51] However, in February 2026, José Jerí was removed from office by Congress for holding undisclosed meetings with Zhihua Yang, a Chinese businessman under scrutiny from the Peruvian government. [52] He was succeeded by José María Balcázar, who was elected by Congress to serve as president of Congress and thus made president of Peru. [53]
The campaign has taken shape amid heightened public concern over citizen security, organized crime, persistent distrust in political institutions, and ongoing debates about corruption and economic governance. [54] Concerns about the power Congress held over the executive and judiciary branches were also noted by observers, with Will Freeman of the Council on Foreign Relations warning that Congress was attempting to build a "mafia state" in the run-up to the elections. [8] [9] Similarly, Human Rights Watch warned of democratic backsliding occuring, with director of the Americas division, Juanita Goebertus Estrada, stating that "Congress has taken steps to undermine the independence and capacity of courts, prosecutors, and key government institutions" and that "[a]s Congress goes unchecked, many Peruvians point to its role in weakening the rule of law as the reason for the expansion of organized crime in the country." [55]
A return to a bicameral legislative system was also established by Congress, which includes 130 seats for deputies and 60 seats for senators. Deputies serve as the lower house tasked with presenting legislative bills and providing oversight of the Cabinet of Peru, having more responsibility over political objectives. Senators represent the upper house and hold more institutional control; they review bills presented by deputies and are responsible for electing the directors of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru, the members of the Constitutional Court, the Comptroller General, Ombudsman of Peru and other institutional leaders. Upper house senators also hold the power to approve certain functions of the executive, such as foreign travel, and the ability to remove the president. [56] The president cannot dissolved the upper house of Congress, granting them a large amount of power. [57]
Conduct
Election monitoring was performed by the Electoral Observation Mission of the European Union, which comprised 150 members, and 90 officials of the Organization of American States. [195] Other monitoring included individuals from the Association of World Election Bodies, the Carter Center, the Center for Electoral Advisory and Promotion and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations, alongside local monitoring groups. [196] [197] About 10,550 locations hosted 92,720 voting stations nationally. [197] Internationally, 4,000 voting stations were established, though voting in Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia was cancelled due to the 2026 Iran war. [196] [197]
On election day, dozens of voting stations were delivered late or not delivered at all, resulting in over 50,000 people being unable to vote. [57] Voting issues in Orlando, Florida and Paterson, New Jersey were also reported. [57] These complications resulted in an extension in the voting deadline for the affected voters. [57] Voters in Chile, where about 113,000 Peruvians reside, expressed frustrations as well when shuttles promised to bring people to voting stations were not used and when the opening of voting at Espacio Riesco [ es ] was delayed by five hours, starting at 12:00 instead of the planned 7:00. [198]
Peruportal 
