Its continuity in the elections is in the hands of the National Elections Jury (JNE). Mario Vizcarra’s chances of trying for the presidency for Peru Primero in the elections on April 12 will depend on the decision made in the next few hours by the highest electoral body.
Last Thursday, and after listening to both parties, the plenary session of the JNE left to vote the appeal presented by the political group against its candidate who is asked to be excluded from the electoral process for having been sentenced for the crime of embezzlement, in compliance with Law 30717.
The aforementioned rule states that people with a conviction for corruption crimes, whether effective or suspended, are prevented from running for elected office, even if they were rehabilitated.
Vizcarra’s defense argues that he has a current rehabilitation, pointing out that a rehabilitated person can join political life and recalled that there are rulings from the Constitutional Court (TC) that establish that the impediment “even if they were rehabilitated” transgresses the constitutional framework.
LOST MATCH?
But is the party already lost for the brother of imprisoned former president Martín Vizcarra? What decision will the JNE make? The expert on electoral issues Fernando Rodríguez pointed out to Perú21 that, although the antecedents indicate that the Electoral Court has rejected the participation of those who have this impediment and that in this case Vizcarra should be excluded, this is a court with little electoral experience and could have a different criterion.
“This is a new court. The majority of the magistrates are going through their first process. I believe that only the representative of the Public Ministry was already in a previous election. Therefore, these gentlemen may have a different criterion,” said the specialist, recalling that the head of JNE himself, Roberto Burneo, is not an expert in electoral issues and that he has been in office for just over a year.
For Rodríguez the balance is quite balanced, since, on the one hand, he points out, the electoral norm clearly establishes the prohibition of Vizcarra from participating due to having had a final conviction, and on the other there is the doctrine, “the constitutional norm that establishes that this man may already be rehabilitated and that the sentence cannot be extended per secula seculorum“.
“The issue is up for debate. In my opinion the Electoral Court is a precisely electoral court and would have to enforce the electoral norm. But, however, I must not fail to point out that this jury surprises us,” analyzed the expert.
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