Elections in Peru

In Peru, the people directly elect a head of state (the president) as well as a legislature. The president is elected by the people for a five-year term. The unicameral Congress (Congreso) has 130 members, also elected for a five-year term by proportional representation. Peru has a multi-party system, which effectively bars one party from becoming the sole influence in a decision-making process. As such, parties must work with one another to form coalition governments. The whole election process is held by the National Jury of Elections and the National Office of Electoral Processes. Peru has compulsory voting.^[1]^[2]

History

Secret ballots were introduced in 1931, along with an expansion of suffrage to allow all literate males to vote.^[3]

Schedule

Election

Position	2016	2017	2021
Type	Presidential (April & June) National Congress (April) Gubernatorial (April & June)	None	Presidential (April & June) National Congress (April) Gubernatorial (April & June)
President and vice president	President and vice president	None	President and vice president
National Congress	All seats	None	All seats
Provinces, cities and municipalities	All positions	None	All positions

Inauguration

Position	2016	2017	2021
Type	Presidential (May) National Congress (May) Gubernatorial (May)	None	Presidential (May) National Congress (May) Gubernatorial (May)
President and vice president	28 July	None	28 July
National Congress	28 July	None	28 July
Provinces, cities and municipalities	28 July	None	28 July

Latest elections

Presidential election

Leading candidate by region in the first round

Leading candidate by region in the second round

Leading candidate by province in the second round

Leading candidate by district in the second round

The first round was held on 11 April.^[4]^[5] The first exit polls published indicated that underdog nominee Pedro Castillo of Free Peru had placed first in the first round of voting with approximately 16.1% of the vote, with Hernando de Soto and Keiko Fujimori tying with 11.9% each.^[5] Yonhy Lescano, Rafael López Aliaga, Verónika Mendoza, and George Forsyth followed, with each receiving 11.0%, 10.5%, 8.8%, and 6.4%, respectively.^[5] César Acuña and Daniel Urresti received 5.8% and 5.0%, respectively, while the rest of the nominees attained less than 3% of the popular vote.^[6]^[7]

In the second round, Castillo defeated Fujimori by just 44,263 votes, winning by 50.13% to 49.87%. Castillo was officially designated as president-elect of Peru on 19 July 2021, a little over a week before he was to be inaugurated.^[8]


Candidate		Party	First round		Second round
Candidate		Party	Votes	%	Votes	%
	Pedro Castillo	Free Peru	2,724,752	18.92	8,836,380	50.13
	Keiko Fujimori	Popular Force	1,930,762	13.41	8,792,117	49.87
	Rafael López Aliaga	Popular Renewal	1,692,279	11.75
	Hernando de Soto	Go on Country – Social Integration Party	1,674,201	11.63
	Yonhy Lescano	Popular Action	1,306,288	9.07
	Verónika Mendoza	Together for Peru	1,132,577	7.86
	César Acuña	Alliance for Progress	867,025	6.02
	George Forsyth	National Victory	814,516	5.66
	Daniel Urresti	Podemos Perú	812,721	5.64
	Julio Guzmán	Purple Party	325,608	2.26
	Alberto Beingolea	Christian People's Party	286,447	1.99
	Daniel Salaverry	We Are Peru	240,234	1.67
	Ollanta Humala	Peruvian Nationalist Party	230,831	1.60
	José Vega	Union for Peru	101,267	0.70
	Ciro Gálvez	National United Renaissance	89,376	0.62
	Marco Arana	Broad Front	65,300	0.45
	Rafael Santos [es]	Peru Secure Homeland	55,644	0.39
	Andrés Alcántara [es]	Direct Democracy	50,802	0.35
Total			14,400,630	100.00	17,628,497	100.00

Valid votes			14,400,630	81.30	17,628,497	93.49
Invalid votes			1,123,027	6.34	1,106,816	5.87
Blank votes			2,190,059	12.36	121,489	0.64
Total votes			17,713,716	100.00	18,856,802	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			25,287,954	70.05	25,287,954	74.57
Source: ONPE, ONPE

By department

2021 Peruvian presidential election results – First round by Department
Department	Castillo Free Peru		Fujimori Popular Force		López Aliaga Popular Renewal		De Soto Go on Country		Lescano Popular Action		Mendoza Together for Peru		Other candidates		Valid votes	Turnout
Department	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Valid votes	Turnout
Amazonas	34,411	26.1%	17,805	13.5%	8,269	6.3%	4,433	3.4%	12,698	9.6%	8,887	6.7%	45,557	34.5%	132,060	60.1%
Ancash	110,620	23.4%	67,394	14.3%	42,312	9.0%	34,562	7.3%	38,911	8.2%	39,786	8.4%	138,200	29.3%	471,785	69.3%
Apurimac	88,812	53.4%	10,879	6.5%	7,768	4.7%	6,531	3.9%	15,649	9.4%	15,368	9.2%	21,179	12.7%	166,186	69.4%
Arequipa	256,224	32.2%	40,216	5.1%	71,053	8.9%	148,793	18.7%	88,708	11.1%	55,269	6.9%	135,448	17.0%	795,711	78.8%
Ayacucho	130,224	52.0%	17,751	7.1%	11,490	4.6%	8,995	3.6%	20,315	8.1%	24,506	9.8%	37,269	14.9%	250,550	68.6%
Cajamarca	232,418	44.9%	54,962	10.6%	31,129	6.0%	25,156	4.9%	38,677	7.5%	29,746	5.7%	105,374	20.4%	517,462	62.6%
Callao	33,750	6.4%	79,699	15.2%	78,066	14.9%	78,920	15.0%	34,965	6.7%	38,233	7.3%	181,634	34.6%	525,267	75.2%
Cusco	232,178	38.2%	27,132	4.5%	29,618	4.9%	40,423	6.6%	60,659	10.0%	123,397	20.3%	94,626	15.6%	608,033	73.5%
Huancavelica	79,895	54.2%	8,449	5.7%	5,060	3.4%	4,591	3.1%	16,727	11.3%	10,091	6.8%	22,574	15.3%	147,387	67.6%
Huanuco	110,978	37.6%	32,827	11.1%	33,787	11.4%	15,822	5.4%	22,565	7.6%	15,556	5.3%	63,688	21.6%	295,223	68.3%
Ica	56,597	14.0%	62,055	15.3%	46,098	11.4%	39,929	9.8%	39,461	9.7%	30,602	7.5%	130,887	32.3%	405,629	76.0%
Junin	131,438	22.9%	80,057	13.9%	52,599	9.2%	54,124	9.4%	66,214	11.5%	52,270	9.1%	137,396	23.9%	574,098	71.9%
La Libertad	90,078	11.5%	131,441	16.8%	95,765	12.2%	84,444	10.8%	47,218	6.0%	37,372	4.8%	296,598	37.9%	782,916	68.9%
Lambayeque	73,279	12.9%	121,263	21.4%	86,126	15.2%	50,087	8.8%	51,467	9.1%	28,866	5.1%	155,480	27.4%	566,568	71.4%
Lima	416,537	7.8%	753,785	14.2%	869,950	16.4%	870,582	16.4%	362,668	6.8%	431,425	8.1%	1,602,623	30.2%	5,307,570	74.6%
Loreto	15,432	4.9%	51,900	16.6%	16,378	5.3%	18,816	6.0%	34,773	11.2%	19,502	6.3%	155,025	49.7%	311,826	61.0%
Madre de Dios	23,945	37.1%	7,278	11.3%	4,041	6.3%	3,996	6.2%	6,601	10.2%	4,372	6.8%	14,341	22.2%	64,574	71.1%
Moquegua	33,665	34.4%	4,617	4.7%	6,832	7.0%	10,183	10.4%	15,412	15.7%	7,190	7.3%	20,027	20.5%	97,926	77.2%
Pasco	34,187	34.2%	12,607	12.6%	8,009	8.0%	5,102	5.1%	11,871	11.9%	6,896	6.9%	21,324	21.3%	99,996	63.6%
Piura	70,968	10.1%	173,891	24.8%	68,316	9.8%	63,842	9.1%	51,223	7.3%	44,576	6.4%	227,714	32.5%	700,530	66.8%
Puno	292,218	47.5%	17,514	2.8%	15,918	2.6%	21,665	3.5%	175,712	28.5%	35,484	5.8%	57,010	9.3%	615,521	81.9%
San Martin	67,000	21.4%	46,699	14.9%	26,561	8.5%	21,825	7.0%	31,498	10.0%	17,122	5.5%	102,765	32.8%	313,470	69.2%
Tacna	64,521	33.2%	9,363	4.8%	17,842	9.2%	21,000	10.8%	28,696	14.8%	14,068	7.2%	38,779	20.0%	194,269	77.8%
Tumbes	7,613	7.7%	36,403	37.1%	8,799	9.0%	7,123	7.3%	7,046	7.2%	5,242	5.3%	26,015	26.5%	98,241	74.6%
Ucayali	26,339	14.0%	40,510	21.5%	14,981	8.0%	11,124	5.9%	14,359	7.6%	15,092	8.0%	65,965	35.0%	188,370	66.3%
Peruvians Abroad	10,602	6.6%	22,887	14.1%	34,767	21.5%	21,552	13.3%	11,617	7.2%	21,185	13.1%	39,146	24.2%	161,756	22.8%
Total	2,723,929	18.9%	1,929,384	13.4%	1,691,534	11.8%	1,673,620	11.6%	1,305,710	9.1%	1,132,103	7.9%	3,936,644	27.4%	14,392,924	70.0%
Source: ONPE (100% counted)

Parliamentary election

Map of percentage of votes received by the largest party per region

The Popular Action, the largest party in the previous legislature, lost some of its seats, and previous parliamentary parties like Union for Peru (UPP) and the Broad Front (FA) had their worst results ever, attaining no representation.^[9] The Peruvian Nationalist Party of former President Ollanta Humala and National Victory of George Forsyth (who led polling for the presidential election earlier in the year) failed to win seats as well.^[9] New or previously minor parties such as Free Peru, Go on Country and Together for Peru and Popular Renewal, the successor of National Solidarity, had good results, with Free Peru becoming the largest party in Congress.^[9] Contigo, the successor to former president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's Peruvians for Change party, failed to win a seat once again and received less than 1% of the vote.^[9] On 26 July, two days before Castillo was sworn in as Peru's President, an opposition alliance led by Popular Action member María del Carmen Alva successfully negotiated an agreement to gain control of Peru's Congress.^[10]



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Free Peru	1,724,354	13.41	37	+37
	Popular Force	1,457,694	11.34	24	+9
	Popular Renewal	1,199,705	9.33	13	+13
	Popular Action	1,159,734	9.02	16	−9
	Alliance for Progress	969,726	7.54	15	−7
	Go on Country – Social Integration Party	969,092	7.54	7	+7
	Together for Peru	847,596	6.59	5	+5
	We Are Peru	788,522	6.13	5	−6
	Podemos Perú	750,262	5.83	5	−6
	Purple Party	697,307	5.42	3	−6
	National Victory	638,289	4.96	0	New
	Agricultural People's Front of Peru	589,018	4.58	0	−15
	Union for Peru	266,349	2.07	0	−13
	Christian People's Party	212,820	1.65	0	0
	Peruvian Nationalist Party	195,538	1.52	0	New
	Broad Front	135,104	1.05	0	−9
	Direct Democracy	100,033	0.78	0	0
	National United Renaissance	97,540	0.76	0	0
	Peru Secure Homeland	54,859	0.43	0	0
	Contigo	5,787	0.05	0	0
Total		12,859,329	100.00	130	0

Valid votes		12,859,329	72.56
Invalid votes		2,737,099	15.44
Blank votes		2,126,712	12.00
Total votes		17,723,140	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		25,287,954	70.09
Source: ONPE, Ojo Público

Laws

Sale of alcohol and carrying firearms (except for Members of the Armed Forces and the National Police) are forbidden during an election.
Political gatherings are forbidden, while public gatherings of any sort are prohibited during voting hours, including religious liturgies and entertainment shows. Clergy of any religion can not participate in their distinctive garments or habits.