With the candidacies defined, the electoral climate begins to heat up. Hours after Christmas was celebrated, the first jabs are already emerging, as well as the formulation of objections between parties and candidates. Political confrontation is already on the agenda.
Last Friday, Carlos Jaicopresidential candidate of Modern Peru, formulated an objection that aims to declare void the list of candidates for the Senate for the single national district of Fuerza Popular, a party of Keiko Fujimori.
“In exercise of the right to petition, I request that the nullity be declared ex officio with respect to the list of candidates presented by the aforementioned political organization,” reads the document to which he had access. Peru21.
As part of the argument for his request, Jaico reviews a fragment of Fuerza Popular’s statute. Article 56 indicates that it is a power of the party presidency, that is, of Fujimori herself, to “directly appoint the candidates.” However, the statute does not expressly indicate whether Fujimori can also assign them location on the list.
In statements to Peru21candidate Carlos Jaico expressed that “the placement on the list of candidate César Augusto Astudillo Salcedo has been determined by a body that lacks jurisdiction to do so.”
“In effect, the statute of Fuerza Popular, in its article 56, is limited to attributing to the presidency the power to designate candidates, without expressly establishing that said body also has the competence to define their locations on the list,” he stated.
In this sense, he said, “the placement of the candidate César Augusto Astudillo Salcedo in position five on the list has been carried out by a non-competent body, which constitutes a direct violation of article 24-B of the LOP, article 38 paragraph 3 of Resolution No 0108-2025-JNE of the Regulations for the Registry of Political Organizations, as well as article 17 of Resolution No. 0164-2025-JNE”.
“The incorrect designation of César Augusto Astudillo determines that all the other appointees are in the same situation and, therefore, the Fuerza Popular list is incomplete and has failed to adequately participate in the primary elections. Therefore, the annulment of the list must be declared ex officio to the Senate for the single national electoral constituency,” concluded Jaico.
What are the chances of this project succeeding? The lawyer specializing in electoral issues José Manuel Villalobos told this newspaper that the request “is poorly formulated because it is not understood if it is made towards Astudillo or towards the entire list of candidates for the Senate.”
He added that it is understood that, if the power to designate guests falls to the party presidency, the designation of the place on the list should also fall to it.
Fujimori sources informed Peru21 that, once the internal process of electing candidates to Congress is completed, ONPE itself returns the list of candidates to the political organization, leaving the locations of those who will be invited blank.
Until the closing of this journalistic article, the JEE had not notified Fuerza Popular of the blemish.
‘PORKY’ ON EMBERS
But the accusation against Fuerza Popular is not the only one. A citizen named Estevens Adriano Sánchez Puertas formulated another against the presidential plan of Popular Renewal, headed by the former mayor of Lima Rafael Lopez Aliaga.
In his request before the Special Electoral Jury (JEE) of Lima Centro 1, he explains that the celestial party violated internal democracy by carrying out its elections through the one-member, one-vote election system, allowing all of its members to vote when its statute specifies that the system it should have used is the one that grants power to both its members and non-members, that is, to citizens in general previously registered.
If the objection is declared founded, Rafael López Aliaga and his two candidates for vice president will be excluded from the 2026 elections, although the JEE ruling can be appealed before the plenary session of the National Elections Jury (JNE).
The argument outlined to cross out López Aliaga is not new, since a citizen asked the JNE to declare his internal elections null and void under the same argument. That time, the electoral body indicated that only members have legitimacy to challenge the results of the primaries in their political organization. Now, with the candidacies registered, the challenge can be presented by any citizen.
In this regard, José Manuel Villalobos told Peru21 that this was “a foreseeable blemish because Renovación Popular had the problem of establishing the modality of its primaries from the beginning, because they had not adapted their statute.”
However, he said that since it was ONPE itself that decided the internal election modality that was assigned to them, that of one activist one vote, and “no one appealed” the decision of the electoral body, the current request could be considered “extemporaneous.”
On the other hand, the JEE of Lima Centro 1 also declared inadmissible the presidential formula of Peru Libre, led by the fugitive former governor of Junín, Vladimir Cerron.
The resolution indicates that the pencil party did not comply with the formal requirements in registration because Cerrón’s sworn statement was signed before the resume was filled out.
The entity gave Perú Libre a period of 2 days to correct the observation. If he does not do so, the request for registration of the presidential plan will be declared inadmissible and, therefore, Vladimir Cerrón would be out of the race, as happened in 2021 when he was struck out for having a current conviction for corruption.
Regarding this blemish, Villalobos mentioned that Perú Libre made “a mistake,” but that it is “much easier” to correct it. Cerrón will have to re-sign, which will not be a problem despite being in hiding, since he can do it digitally from his hiding place.
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
