He National Election Jury (JNE) declared inadmissible the request for annulment presented by the Popular Action party with the aim of reversing the annulment of its internal primary elections, confirming that the political organization will not participate in the 2026 General Elections.
The decision – adopted by the plenary session of Peru’s highest electoral court – ratifies resolution 0745-2025-JNE, by which the JNE had declared the party’s internal elections null and void due to the detection of “substantial defects” that violated the principles of internal democracy and due process, compromising the validity of the designation of candidates.
The JNE maintained that the initial decision is final and constitutes res judicata in electoral matters, so it cannot be reviewed in another instance within the Peruvian electoral system. In this context, its resolution also provides for the definitive archiving of the file related to the annulment appeal.
Acción Popular had filed the appeal led by its legal representative and its general secretary with the objective of restoring the proclamation of the results of its internal elections, in which Alfredo Barnechea had been elected presidential candidate. However, the JNE evaluated that the return or repetition of that process was not appropriate given the errors detected and the advance of the deadlines of the electoral schedule.
The annulment of the internal elections of Acción Popular means that the historic political organization – founded in the 1950s and with relevant participation in Peruvian political life – will not have a presidential formula or lists for the Congress of the Republic and the Andean Parliament in 2026, being excluded from the national contest.
The electoral exclusion has generated reactions inside and outside the party. Sectors of Popular Action have denounced that the JNE’s decision was arbitrary and contrary to its internal processes, although for now there is no legal avenue within the electoral justice system that would allow them to recompose their participation given the closing of the deadlines established by law for the registration of candidates.
With the resolution of the JNE, the political scenario for the 2026 General Elections is made up of 36 presidential formulas and more than 1,700 valid lists for the different national positions that will compete within the regular period of the electoral calendar.
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