José Enrique Jerí Oré (We are Peru), 38 years old, has been appointed president of the Republic of Peru after the vacancy of Dina Boluarte, becoming the eighth Peruvian head of state in less than a decade. Jerí, who until the moment of his swearing-in served as president of Congress, assumes a transitional position that must be held until July 2026, when he gives command to the newly elected president in the 2026 general elections.
Jerí’s rise to the presidential seat has been received with criticism that points to the deep crisis of legitimacy that the Peruvian political class is going through. A lawyer by profession, his career has been tainted by controversies, such as the opening of three tax investigations against him so far this year.
At the beginning of the year, Jeri Oré was the subject of a complaint for alleged sexual violation that, although it was archived by the prosecutor’s office in August 2025, the case caused another investigation to be opened for not having attended the anger control therapies that the judge in charge of the case ordered. At the same time, it opened a third tax investigation for alleged illicit enrichmentafter it became clear that from 2021 to 2024 he went from having assets of 90 thousand soles to more than one million soles and that this did not coincide with the salary he received.
Additionally, allegations have been reported about his alleged involvement in irregularities during his tenure as president of the Congressional Budget Commission (2023-2024 period), where he would have favored a project in the Cajamarca region, although these accusations did not lead to a formal judicial process either.
In his first speech as head of state, Jerí promised a “transitional government, empathy and national reconciliation”, also declaring that he will “declare war” on citizen insecurity, one of the main reasons why Congress dismissed Dina Boluarte. However, his ability to stabilize the country and generate confidence is strongly questioned by opposition parliamentarians, such as congressman Jaime Quito (Socialist Caucus), who stated that his government “They are not going to last a week in office because it will be the streets that take them out.“.
His entry into Congress: from Martín Vizcarra’s accessory to president of the Republic
José Jerí entered the Congress of the Republic, representing Lima for the Somos Perú party, after the 2021 general elections. However, his arrival did not occur as a direct holder by vote. Jerí was initially a accessory congressman of his party.
He effectively assumed his seat in July 2021, in place of former president Martín Vizcarra, who had been the parliamentarian with the most votes, but who was disqualified by the same Congress from holding any public office. In this way, Jerí, who had run with number 3 and obtained only 11,654 valid votes, became a regular congressman.
Later, within Parliament, Jerí strengthened his political position, presiding over the Budget Commission and being elected, on July 26, 2025, as president of the Board of Directors of Congress for the annual period 2025-2026. This last position was the one that, after the vacancy of Dina Boluarte, catapulted him, by constitutional succession, to the Presidency of the Republic, an unexpected promotion for a politician with a relatively new parliamentary career until before presiding over the legislative branch.
