Featured Photo: Cesar Acuna 2015. Taken from Wikimedia.
By Stephan Horler and Ruby Cazarez, Research Associates at the Council on Hemispheric Affairs
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The United States is not the only country facing political tension around 2016 presidential elections. Two candidates whom opinion polls had running second and fourth in Peru's presidential election have been disqualified from preliminary elections to take place on April 10, while the frontrunner, Keiko Fujimori was rumored to be at risk of being similarly disqualified.
On March 4, an investigative subcommittee declared candidates Julio Guzmán and César Acuña ineligible to run in the presidential election.[1] Opinion polls had shown Guzmán, an economist, in second place behind Keiko Fujimori, daughter of imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori, with Acuña, a successful businessman, in fourth place.[2] Guzmán, with support fluctuating between 16 and 18 percent (to Fujimori's ratings just above 30 percent), was seen as her main rival for the presidency; Acuña was polling at between 4 and 8 percent.[3]
By a vote of 3 to 2, the Special Electoral Jury (Jurados Electorales Especiales or JEE) declared Guzmán's candidacy void on technical grounds, finding that his party, All For Peru (Todos Por El Perú, or TPP), incorrectly completed its inscription process by not handing in a complete set of paperwork.[4] The JEE unanimously found that Acuña's political party, Alliance For Progress (Alianza Por El Progreso, or APP) illegally purchased support, a violation of the election process rules.[5]
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