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Over the past decade alone, Peru has seen nine different presidents occupy the government palace in Lima. On Sunday, it sets out to elect a 10th.
This weekend marks the first round of what is expected to be a two-part presidential election in Peru, as voters seek an escape from the turmoil that has characterised Peruvian politics in recent years.
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Right-wing candidates like Keiko Fujimori have been polling ahead of their left-wing counterparts in the weeks leading up to the pivotal vote.
But the race could still yield unexpected outcomes. This year’s Peruvian presidential race has brought together a record number of candidates, reflecting the fractures and conflicts in the political system.
As a result, many polls show a fragmented electorate, with voters divided among dozens of different candidates. No single contender has been able to decisively break away from the pack.
A large chunk of voters also remains undecided. Crime and corruption loom large as election-season issues.
Who are the candidates, and what could Sunday’s election mean for Peru’s political crisis? We explore these questions and more in this brief explainer.
When is the election?
The first round of voting will take place on April 12. The country’s presidency and all seats in Peru’s Congress are up for grabs.
If no single presidential candidate captures more than 50 percent of the vote, a second round of voting will be held on June 7, pitting the two top-performing candidates against each other.
How is the congressional election different this year?
In 2024, an electoral reform was passed that would bring back Peru’s bicameral legislature.
That reform is slated to take effect this election cycle: Voters will select candidates to form a Senate for the first time since 1992.
The bicameral legislature was previously dismantled under the leadership of the late Alberto Fujimori, who dissolved both Peru’s Congress and its Supreme Court after facing opposition to his policies.
Experts have widely described Fujimori’s rule from that point forward as a military dictatorship. Fujimori ultimately reorganised Congress as a single-chamber body, a situation that has persisted until 2026 — more than two and a half decades after his leadership ended.
Fujimori’s daughter, Keiko Fujimori, is among the frontrunners in this year’s race. She served as her father’s first lady from 1994 to 2000.
Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori attends a televised debate in Lima, Peru, on March 31 [Angela Ponce/Reuters]How many presidential candidates are there?
An unprecedented 36 presidential candidates initially announced they were vying for Peru’s presidency.
One, Napoleon Becerra, died last month in a traffic accident, bringing the field down to 35, still a record sum.
The vast field is considered a sign of the country’s fractious politics, with no single party or candidate forming a broad enough coalition to unify voters. The large number of candidates is also likely to contribute to voter confusion ahead of the election.
Who are some of the top candidates?
Keiko Fujimori
The leading presidential candidate is Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former right-wing leader Alberto Fujimori.
This is her fourth bid for the presidency. In each of her past three attempts, she has made it to the run-off round, a feat she is expected to repeat during this election cycle.
Fujimori represents the right-wing Popular Force party, which has embraced her father’s legacy and supported amnesty for human rights abuses committed during his time in office. Her platform, dubbed “Order for Peru”, includes a pledge to implement a 60-day emergency decree to address crime.
Carlos Alvarez
A well-known comedian running with the right-wing Country for All party, Carlos Alvarez has positioned himself as a political outsider in the race.
“I have not come to divide the country. I have come to state something simple: This is not a fight between the Left and the Right,” Alvarez wrote in the preamble to his platform.
“It is about uniting the country — and drawing a firm line between those who love Peru and those who do not.”
Much of his platform is centred on the fight against organised crime in Peru. His goals include speeding up court procedures by 30 percent, setting up temporary judicial mechanisms, and reforming the national police through greater professionalisation.
Rafael Lopez Aliaga
Popularly known by his nickname “Porky”, after the cartoon character Porky Pig, Rafael Lopez Aliaga is a powerful businessman who served as mayor of the capital of Lima from 2023 to 2025.
This is his second bid for the presidency, after a failed run in 2021.
A representative for the far-right Popular Renewal party, Lopez Aliaga has run a combative campaign with sweeping pledges to elevate conservative social values and crack down on crime and corruption.
He has even suggested he would support foreign intervention, akin to the United States operation that abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
“Just like Maduro was taken out like a wet guinea pig, the leaders of the Tren de Aragua gang who operate in the United States and live here should be taken out,” Lopez-Aliaga told local media. “American intelligence should be able to come in and take them to the United States.”
Roberto Sanchez Palomino
A former psychologist and a Congressman since 2021, Roberto Sanchez is running on behalf of the Together for Peru party.
Previously, Sanchez served as the minister of foreign trade and tourism under former leftist President Pedro Castillo, whose self-coup in 2022 ended his term in less than a year and a half.
Castillo is currently serving an 11-year prison term for his attempt to dissolve the government. Still, he has endorsed Sanchez as the successor to his popular left-wing political movement.
In his governing platform, Sanchez has pledged to expand public services to all of Peru’s territories and address social inequality by guaranteeing access to health, justice and education. Among his proposals is a new constitution for Peru.
Presidential candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga waves at his supporters during a campaign rally in Lima, Peru, on April 4 [Angela Ponce/Reuters]What does polling say?
Most polls show Keiko Fujimori with a notable lead over the other candidates — but her approval rating only hovers about 15 percent in the crowded field of candidates, creating the potential for a shake-up.
The research firm Ipsos, for example, has shown Fujimori on a steady upward trajectory since January.
In its last poll before election, published on April 6, Ipsos had her in the lead, besting Rafael Lopez Aliago, whose popularity has slid in recent weeks.
Once the frontrunner, Lopez Aliago had slipped from 10 percent support in March to 7 percent support in the final poll, putting him in third place.
Narrowly ahead of Lopez Aliago was Carlos Alvarez in second place with 8 percent support. Ricardo Belmont, another former Lima mayor and TV network owner, was also in contention with 6 percent.
Two left-wing candidates were tied in fifth place with 5 percent each: Alfonso Lopez-Chau and Roberto Sanchez.
More than a quarter of the remaining respondents in Ipsos’s survey were backing other candidates. Another 16 percent did not specify a candidate they supported, and 11 percent indicated they would cast a null ballot.
The sheer number of candidates is expected to divide the vote significantly, meaning that the two candidates that progress to the next round of voting could have relatively little popular support.
A man waits at a bus stop covered in political propaganda in the Villa Maria del Triunfo neighbourhood of Lima on April 8 [AFP]Which issues are top of mind for voters?
Crime and corruption are the central issues of the election, along with concerns about the country’s ongoing political crisis.
An uptick in homicides over the last several years has led to multiple candidates running on hardline platforms in the style of Salvadoran strongman Nayib Bukele, including proposals for mega-prisons and expanding the powers of security forces.
According to an Ipsos survey from October, 68 percent of Peruvians ranked insecurity as a top concern, followed by corruption at 67 percent and political instability at 36 percent.
Peru has had nine presidents in the last 10 years. The current president, 83-year-old Jose Maria Balcazar, was appointed by Congress in February after his predecessor, Jose Jeri, was removed by Congress over corruption allegations just four months after taking office.
