Peruvian general election, 2016

Peruvian general election, 2016

10 April 2016 (first round) 5 June 2016 (second round)

Nominee Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Keiko Fujimori Party Peruvians for Change Popular Force Popular vote 8,591,802 8,549,205 Percentage 50.12% 49.87%

Ballotage results by region.

President before election Ollanta Humala Peru Wins Elected President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Peruvians for Change

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General elections took place in Peru on 10 April 2016 to determine the president, vice-presidents, composition of the Congress of the Republic of Peru and the Peruvian representatives of the Andean Parliament.

In Congress, Popular Force won in a landslide, taking more than a third of the vote and an absolute majority of 71 out of 130 seats. Behind them in opposition, Peruvians for Change and Broad Front each came out with 20 seats.

In the race for the presidency, incumbent President Ollanta Humala was ineligible to run due to constitutional term limits. Popular Force candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, won the first round with almost 40 per cent of the vote but fell short of the 50 per cent majority required to avoid a second round. Peruvians for Change candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski narrowly beat Broad Front candidate Verónika Mendoza to compete in the second round, which took place on 5 June 2016. With support from those opposing Fujimori, Kuczynski overturned the first round result and won by a narrow margin of less than half a percentage point.

Background

The President of Peru is elected using the two-round system. The first round was held on 10 April and the second on 5 June. The 130 members of the Congress of the Republic are elected in 25 multi-member constituencies using closed list proportional representation.

On 13 November 2015, incumbent President Ollanta Humala called for a general election to be held on 10 April 2016. He said that he would respect the constitutional term limit restrictions and would not seek to run again for the presidency in this election.

Candidates

Campaign highlights

President Ollanta Humala officially inaugurated the campaign in November 2015. The presidential tickets were to be inscribed by late January 10, 2016. The congressional candidacies were to be inscribed by late 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. The first candidate was barred due to the violation of party rules in the internal election. The second candidate was barred for giving money during a campaign trail, which is a violation of the electoral law enacted by Congress in November 2015.

Keiko Fujimori was a highly polarizing figure during the election. She is the daughter of the controversial former president Alberto Fujimori, who was sentenced to prison. She is popular among the poor people, and the 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 is resisted by the people who reject Fujimori for human rights abuses and corrupt practices, and fear that her victory would mark a return of Fujimorismo. Mendoza, who placed third and could not stand in the runoff election, gave her full support to Kuczynski, in order to prevent the victory of Keiko.

Main presidential candidates

in alphabetical order

Candidates included in this section have received more than 5% in approval ratings in recent national polls.
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)	Prime Minister 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 second round, 39.85%	5th Place (5.82%)	To second round, 21.00%	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 are 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 is in jail for crimes against humanity. Most recently, accusations have surfaced of connections between drug trafficking and Congressman Joaquín Ramírez, Secretary General of Fuerza Popular, the political party under which Keiko Fujimori is running for president. On Sunday May 15, 2016, Peruvian news program Cuarto Poder broadcast a report conducted with Univisión that revealed Ramírez is being investigated by the DEA. The Congressman is being investigated for money laundering, a crime for which he is also under investigation in Peru. She 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 are 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 are 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 Prime Minister (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. His running mates are 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 has served in Congress since 2011. Her running mates are 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 have 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
• César Acuña Peralta, Governor of the La Libertad Region (2015) – Alliance for Progress (APP-RN-SP), disqualified for attempted vote buying

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
• Vladimir Cerrón, former Governor of the Junín Region (2011–2014) – Liberating Peru
• Yehude Simon, former Prime Minister of Peru (2008–2009) – Peruvian Humanist Party
• Francisco Diez Canseco, former Member of Congress (1985–1990) – Peru Nation
• Hernando Guerra García, former candidate for Congress, National Solidarity Party

Results

First round results by Regions. Orange = Fujimori, Pink = Kuczynski, Green = Mendoza, Yellow = Santos

Presidential election

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%.

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. Fujimori conceded the election to Kuczynski on 10 June.

 Preliminary results for the Peruvian presidential elections, 2016
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Party		Candidate	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Popular Force Fuerza Popular	Keiko Fujimori	6,115,073	39.86	8,549,205	49.87
	Peruvians for Change Peruanos Por el Kambio	Pedro Pablo Kuczynski	3,228,661	21.05	8,591,802	50.12
	Broad Front Frente Amplio	Verónika Mendoza	2,874,940	18.74
	Popular Action Acción Popular	Alfredo Barnechea	1,069,360	6.97
	Popular Alliance Alianza Popular	Alan García	894,278	5.83
	Direct Democracy Democracia Directa	Gregorio Santos	613,173	4.00
	Hope Front Frente Esperanza	Fernando Olivera	203,103	1.32
	Possible Peru Perú Posible	Alejandro Toledo	200,012	1.30
	Developing Peru Progresando Perú	Miguel Hilario	75,870	0.49
	Order Party Partido Político Orden	Antero Flores Aráoz	65,673	0.43
Totals and voter turnout			18,734,130	81.80	18,335,385	80.06

Congressional election

Popular Force won in a landslide, taking more than a third of the vote and an absolute majority of 71 out of 130 seats. Behind them in opposition, Peruvians for Change and Broad Front each came out 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).

Parties			Popular vote	Percentage of vote	Seats
		Popular Force	4,431,077	36.34%	71
		Peruvians for Change	2,007,710	16.47%	20
		Broad Front for Justice, Life, and Liberty	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%	–
		Possible Peru	286,980	2.35%	–
		Hope Front	139,634	1.15%	–
		Order Party	68,474	0.56%	–
		Developing Peru	14,663	0.12%	–
Total			12,194,042	100.00%	130