2026 Peruvian general election


are scheduled to be held in Peru on 12 April 2026, with proposals to bring them forward to 2023 or 2024 due to the 2022–2023 Peruvian protests rejected. The presidential elections will determine the president and the vice presidents, while the congressional elections will determine the composition of the Congress of Peru, which will return to being a bicameral legislature with a 60-seat Senate and 130-seat Chamber of Deputies.
A record of 34 registered candidates entered the presidential race by December, 2025. The last president, Dina Boluarte was removed from office in October 2025 and impeached by the Peruvian Congress. José Jerí is her successor.

Electoral system

The president is elected using the two-round system. The first round voting allows eligible voters to vote for any viable presidential candidate. The top two candidates who receive a plurality of the vote proceed to the run-off election. The winner of the run-off election and the presidential election is the candidate who receives a plurality of the popular vote. However, if in the first round the candidate who is in the first place already gets more than 50% of the popular vote, that candidate will automatically win the election and a run-off election will no longer be needed.
The 130 members of the Chamber of Deputies are elected in 27 multi-member constituencies using open list proportional representation. To enter Congress, parties must either cross the 5% electoral threshold at the national level, or win at least seven seats in one constituency. Seats are allocated using the D'Hondt method.
The 60 senators are elected dividing them in two separate elections, with 30 elected nationwide by proportional representation and 30 in the 27 Chamber constituencies.
Peru has five seats in the Andean Parliament, which are elected using a common constituency by open list proportional representation.

Background

Peru’s 2026 general election is being held after a prolonged period of political instability that began well before the current electoral cycle and intensified following the 2021 election of Pedro Castillo. In December 2022, Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree; the move was rejected by state institutions and he was removed from office and arrested, triggering nationwide unrest and a severe governance crisis.
Castillo’s vice president, Dina Boluarte, assumed the presidency amid the 2022–2023 protests and sustained demands for early elections. Although proposals were repeatedly introduced to bring forward the scheduled 2026 vote, they were rejected by Congress. In October 2025, Boluarte was removed from office by Congress on “moral incapacity” grounds amid mounting public anger over insecurity and corruption allegations, and President of Congress, José Jerí succeeded her as president for the remainder of the constitutional term leading into the 2026 elections. Jeri became Peru's seventh president in nine years.
The campaign has taken shape amid heightened public concern over citizen security and organized crime, persistent distrust in political institutions, and ongoing debates about corruption and economic governance.

Candidates

Presidential nominees

The following nominees have filed to run at the National Jury of Elections once having won their respective primaries:

Other nominees

Tickets defeated in primaries

Declined

  • Francisco Sagasti, former President of Peru
  • Verónika Mendoza, former Member of Congress
  • Carla García, communicator and writer. Declined in order to run as running mate of Javier Velásquez in the primary election.

    Former

  • Alberto Fujimori, former President of Peru. Died on 11 September 2024.
  • Carlos Añaños, businessman and founder of Ajegroup. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Antauro Humala, leader of Ethnocacerism. Party disqualified on 31 October 2024 by the Supreme Court of Peru.
  • Rómulo Mucho Mamani, former Minister of Energy and Mines. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Susel Paredes, Member of Congress. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Fernando Cillóniz, former Governor of Ica. Party ended candidacy in the aftermath of an interview in which the candidate revealed ties to Odebrecht.
  • Javier González Olaechea, former Minister of Foreign Relations. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Guido Bellido, former Prime Minister of Peru. Party failed to register with the National Jury of Elections on time to qualify for the general election.
  • Aníbal Torres, former Prime Minister of Peru Party failed to register with the National Jury of Elections on time to qualify for the general election.
  • Duberlí Rodríguez, former Chief Justice of Peru Party failed to register with the National Jury of Elections on time to qualify for the general election.
  • Ciro Gálvez, former Minister of Culture Party failed to register with the National Jury of Elections on time to qualify for the general election.
  • Óscar Valdés, former Prime Minister of Peru Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Hernando de Soto, economist and former 2021 presidential candidate. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Carlos Neuhaus, former Chairman of the 2019 Pan American Games Organizing Committee. Party chose Roberto Chiabra as presidential nominee in coalition with the Unity and Peace Party.
  • Zósimo Cárdenas, Governor of Junín. Party coalesced with Modern Force’s Fiorella Molinelli as presidential nominee and Cárdenas as her running mate.
  • Carlos Anderson, Member of Congress. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Pedro Guevara, architect and consultant. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.
  • Arturo Fernández Bazán, former Mayor of Trujillo. Sentenced to one year and eight months in prison for defamation by the Judiciary.
  • Guillermo Bermejo, Member of Congress. Sentenced to fifteen years in prison for terrorism affiliation by the Judiciary.
  • Phillip Butters, journalist and TV host. Ineligible to run in the presidential election due to resignation from party membership after the registration deadline.

    Opinion polls