Peruvian general election, 2016

Campaign highlights

President Ollanta Humala officially called for elections on November 2015. The presidential tickets were to be filed with the electoral authority by January 10, 2016. Congressional lists were to be filed with the electoral authority by February 10, 2016.

In March 2016, presidential candidates Julio Guzmán from All for Peru and César Acuña Peralta from Alliance for Progress were barred from the election. Guzmán was barred due to a violation of party rules in the party's internal election. Acuña Peralta was barred due to monetary giveaways during a campaign rally, which is a violation of an electoral law enacted by Congress in November 2015.^[4]

Keiko Fujimori was a highly polarizing figure during the election. She is the daughter of the controversial former president Alberto Fujimori, who was serving time in prison at the time. She was popular among the poor, and among loyalists who credit Fujimori with the defeat of Shining Path. This popularity allowed her to win in the first round of the presidential elections. She was viewed unfavorably by a number of people who oppose Fujimori for human rights abuses and corrupt practices, and who feared that her victory would mark a return of Fujimorismo. Mendoza, who placed third and could not stand in the runoff election, gave her full endorsement to Kuczynski, in order to prevent Fujimori's victory.^[5]

Main presidential candidates

in alphabetical order

Candidates included in this section have received more than 5% in approval ratings in recent national polls.[6]
Alfredo Barnechea	Keiko Fujimori	Alan García	Pedro Pablo Kuczynski	Verónika Mendoza
Member of Congress (1985–1990)	Member of Congress (2006–2011)	President of Peru (1985–1990 / 2006–2011)	President of the Council of Ministers of Peru (2005–2006)	Member of Congress (2011–2016)
Popular Action	Popular Force	Popular Alliance (APRA-PPC)	Peruvians for Change	Broad Front
4th Place (6.97%)	To run off, 39.85%	5th Place (5.82%)	To run off, 21.05%	3rd Place (18.82%)

• Alfredo Barnechea, candidate of the Popular Action party, Master in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. A journalist in the 1980s, he was elected Member of Congress for the Peruvian Aprista Party representing Lima. Following President Alan García's announcement of his intent to nationalize the banks, Barnechea resigned from APRA and was independent until his affiliation to Fernando Belaúnde's Popular Action. His running mates were Member of Congress Víctor Andrés García Belaúnde and former Member of Congress Edmundo del Águila.
• Keiko Fujimori, candidate of the Popular Force party. She is the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori who was in jail for crimes against humanity. Accusations had recently surfaced of connections between drug trafficking and Congressman Joaquín Ramírez, Secretary General of Fuerza Popular, the political party under which Keiko Fujimori was running for president. On Sunday May 15, 2016, Peruvian news program Cuarto Poder broadcast a report conducted with Univisión that revealed Ramírez was being investigated by the DEA. The Congressman was being investigated for money laundering, a crime for which he was also under investigation in Peru. Fujimori served in Congress from 2006 to 2011, and made it to the run-off with Ollanta Humala in the 2011 election, losing by a small margin. Her running mates were former Minister of Agriculture José Chlimper and former leader of Social Force, Vladimiro Huaroc.
• Alan García, candidate of the APRA-PPC coalition known as Popular Alliance. He was President of Peru from 1985 to 1990 and then from 2006 to 2011. He placed second in the 2001 presidential election, losing in the runoff against Alejandro Toledo. He ran for a third time in the 2006 general election, making it to the run-off where he defeated Union for Peru candidate Ollanta Humala (who is the incumbent President in 2016). His running mates were leader of the Christian People's Party Lourdes Flores and former Governor of the Apurímac Region David Salazar.
• Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, candidate of the Peruvians for Change party. He previously served in Alejandro Toledo's administration as President of the Council of Ministers (2005–2006) and Minister of Economy and Finance (2001–2002). He also served as Minister of Energy and Mines (1980–1982) in the second administration of Fernando Belaúnde Terry. His running mates were former Governor of the Moquegua Region Martín Vizcarra, and former Minister of Economy and Finance Mercedes Aráoz.
• Verónika Mendoza, the candidate of the Broad Front coalition. She had served in Congress since 2011. Her running mates were former bishop Marco Arana and the Dean of the School of Social Sciences of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru Alan Fairlie.

Other candidates

The following gained less than 5% in the last approval ratings, below the Election threshold or valla electoral.

• Alejandro Toledo, former President of Peru (2001–2006) – Possible Peru
• Gregorio Santos, Governor of Cajamarca Region (2011–present) – Direct Democracy, with 4% of the popular votes.
• Antero Flores Aráoz, former Minister of Defense (2007–2009) – Order Party
• Miguel Hilario – Progressing Peru
• Fernando Olivera, former Minister of Justice (2001–2002) – Hope Front

Disqualified candidates

• Julio Guzmán, Secretary General of the Office of the Prime Minister of Peru (2012–2013) – All for Peru, disqualified for irregularities in the nomination process^[4]
• César Acuña Peralta, Governor of the La Libertad Region (2015) – Alliance for Progress (APP-RN-SP), disqualified for attempted vote buying^[4]

Voluntarily withdrawn

• Felipe Castillo, former District Mayor of Los Olivos (1996–2014) – Always Together
• Renzo Reggiardo, Member of Congress (2006–2016) – Peru Secure Nation
• Daniel Urresti, former Minister of the Interior (2014–2015) – Peruvian Nationalist Party^[7]
• Vladimir Cerrón, former Governor of the Junín Region (2011–2014) – Liberating Peru^[8]
• Yehude Simon, former Prime Minister of Peru (2008–2009) – Peruvian Humanist Party^[9]
• Francisco Diez Canseco, former Member of Congress (1985–1990) – Peru Nation^[10]
• Hernando Guerra García, former candidate for Congress, National Solidarity Party^[11]

President

The first round was held on 10 April. Exit polls indicated that Keiko Fujimori placed first in the first round of voting with approximately 40% of the vote, with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Veronika Mendoza each receiving approximately 20%.^[12]

The second round was held on 5 June. Exit polls indicated that Pedro Pablo Kuczynski held a slight lead over Keiko Fujimori. As counting continued, the gap narrowed significantly. Preliminary results gave Kuczynski a 0.25 per cent advantage over Fujimori, with less than 50,000 votes between them. Approximately 50,000 votes were challenged during the count.^[13] Fujimori conceded the election to Kuczynski on 10 June.^[14]

Congress

Popular Force won in a landslide, taking more than a third of the vote and an absolute majority of 73 out of 130 seats. Behind them in opposition, Peruvians for Change with 18 seats and Broad Front with 20 seats. Other parties which gained representation in Congress include Alliance for the Progress of Peru (9 seats), Popular Alliance (5 seats) and Popular Action (5 seats).^[15]

Party		Vote	%	Seats
	Popular Force	4,431,077	36.34	73
	Peruvians for Change	2,007,710	16.47	18
	Broad Front	1,700,052	13.94	20
	Alliance for the Progress of Peru	1,125,682	9.23	9
	Popular Alliance	1,013,735	8.31	5
	Popular Action	877,734	7.20	5
	Direct Democracy	528,301	4.33	0
	Possible Peru	286,980	2.35	0
	Hope Front	139,634	1.15	0
	Order Party	68,474	0.56	0
	Developing Peru	14,663	0.12	0
Invalid/blank votes			–	–
Total		12,194,042	100	130
Registered voters/turnout		22,901,954		–
Source: ONPE