Peru Nears a Month Since Presidential Election with No Winner

Peruvians remain no closer to knowing who their next president is on Friday after a shake-up at the National Jury of Elections (JNE) caused by one of its members declaring its investigation into fraud allegations biased.

Peruvians went to the polls on June 6 to choose between three-time runoff candidate Keiko Fujimori, a hardline conservative, and Pedro Castillo, a former teacher representing the Leninist Free Peru party. Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), responsible for counting the votes, completed that count shortly after the election, finding Castillo the winner with 50.125 percent of the vote compared to Fujimori’s 49.875 percent. Given the extremely close nature of the vote tally, however, Fujimori filed for an audit of several ballots, alleging her Popular Force party had found evidence of fraud.

Fujimori notably has not accused the ONPE of fraud or any improprieties, accusing Free Peru instead of planting workers at voting centers to falsify votes. Castillo has denied the allegations. Fujimori’s team is asking the JNE, which reviews fraud allegations, to remove as many as 500,000 votes from the final count due to evidence of fraud, more votes than the difference between Castillo’s and Fujimori’s totals. Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, Castillo has yet to declare himself the winner.

The controversy shifted away from the candidates directly to the five-member JNE on Wednesday when one of its members, Luis Arce Córdova, published a letter attempting to resign. The body already had a vacancy — Arce’s departure would have left only three officials and rendered it unable to function. Arce claimed the jury was biased against Fujimori and did not want to remain on the panel so as to not add legitimacy to a process he insisted was rigged. Arce’s letter surfaced after the JNE completed its investigation of evidence in ten Fujimori appeals to nullify votes and rejected all ten.

The JNE responded to Arce with a statement noting that there exists no legal process for a JNE juror to simply resign in the middle of an active electoral investigation, rejecting his request to vacate his seat. Instead, his colleagues suspended him — a punitive measure as opposed to accepting his resignation — and have sought a replacement. Arce’s resignation will allegedly take effect immediately following the conclusion of the current investigation.

Jorge Salas, the president of the JNE, issued his own declaration condemning Arce for his comments on the alleged partiality of the body, accusing him of “attempting against the honor and good reputation of the members of the JNE, the electoral system, high authorities and servants of the nation,” according to the Argentine news agency Infobae. Salas insisted international observers have been present throughout the presidential election process and have not impugned any Peruvian electoral body.

The JNE announced on Friday, after being unable to function since Wednesday, that it had appointed Víctor Rodríguez Monteza as a temporary replacement for Arce. Peru’s El Comercio noted that Rodríguez will join the JNE with significant baggage: an investigation into potential ties to a criminal investigation — and notifying organized criminals that they were being wiretapped — and a legal disciplinary “process.” El Comercio noted, however, that Arce himself is under investigation for alleged “illicit enrichment.”