Peruvian law students from the Facultad de Derecho, Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco (UNSAAC) are reporting for JURIST on law-related events in and affecting Perú. All students are from Centro de Investigación de los Estudiantes de Derecho (CIED), a research center in UNSAAC’s faculty of law dedicated to spreading legal information and improving legal culture through study and research, promoting critical and reflective debate to contribute to the development of the country. Inti Daniela Diaz Uscamayta is a law student from UNSAAC and a member of CIED. She files this dispatch from Cusco.
In Perú, the second round of voting, held exclusively for the presidential election and scheduled for Sunday, June 7, 2026, will be between Keiko Sofia Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez. Fujimori, the candidate for the Fuerza Popular political party, advanced with 17.192% of the vote. Sánchez, the candidate for the political party Juntos por el Perú, emerged as the other candidate with 12.039% of the total valid votes, for whom Peruvians will cast their votes.
The election cycle scheduled for 2026—including elections for the president, the Andean Parliament, and the national legislature—will adopt a bicameral system following these elections in accordance with Constitutional Reform Law No. 31988, approved by the outgoing Congress in 2024. Consequently, the legislature will now consist of a chamber of at least 70 senators and 130 deputies.
The first phase was completed on April 19, when Peruvian citizens had to choose from 43 presidential candidates belonging to a variety of political parties without a clear political orientation among them. This is why the results released by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE)—the electoral authority responsible for conducting the official count of the 92,766 ballots received—were met with criticism, as it took a week to announce the official results. It was revealed that none of the 43 candidates surpassed the 50% plus one threshold required by Peruvian law.
The results of the April 19 elections surprised most people because, on the one hand, the runoff would once again be between a radical left-wing party and a conservative right-wing party. For the fourth consecutive time, Fujimori’s candidate was re-elected to advance to the runoff, this time facing Sánchez, who was the surprise of these elections. In polls prior to Election Day, he was not among the top contenders nor did he have strong support in the capital, where the majority of the country’s voters are concentrated.
With the arrival of these presidential elections in Perú, debates have begun between the two candidates. However, this year’s debates differ significantly from those held in 2021, when there was only one official debate between the candidates of that year: Keiko Fujimori of the Fuerza Popular and Pedro Castillo, representing the Peru Libre. That debate was organized by the National Electoral Board (JNE), the autonomous constitutional body that ensures the transparency of all electoral processes in Perú.
Now, there will be two debates addressing issues arising from the coordination between the JNE and the political parties selected for the second round of the election. The first debate took place on May 24 and was held not directly between Fujimori and Sánchez but between the technical teams of both parties. Fujimori’s team included Vladimiro Huaroc Portocarrero, Rosangella Andrea Barbarán Reyes, Marco Antonio Vinelli Ruiz, Carlos Alberto Neuhaus Tudela, Luis Julián Martín Carranza Ugarte, and José Francisco Recoba Martínez. Sánchez’s team included Pedro Francke, Óscar Dancourt, Sinesio López, Rosendo Serna, Hernando Cevallos, Jorge Manco Zaconetti, Enrique Bissetti, and José De Echave, as indicated by the candidates themselves. These technical teams debated their government plans for one hour and 40 minutes. During the debate, topics such as public safety, democratic strengthening, education and health, the economy, employment, and poverty reduction were raised.
The last debate between the two candidates took place on May 31, where both Keiko and Sánchez had the opportunity to present their proposals focused on various areas of national concern, seeking to secure first place and an absolute majority in the results of the upcoming June 7 elections, as well as enabling Peruvians to vote as informed as possible, since, per the National Election Board’s (JNE) directive, the debate was broadcast on free-to-air television on the national channel TV PERÚ.
