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The JNE Delays a Decision on Mayors’ Candidacies as First Councilors
According to El Comercio, the electoral body decided not to set a criterion before the election on cases involving local authorities seeking to return to municipal power from councilor slates. The dispute affects Lima and more than a hundred municipalities across the country.
The National Jury of Elections (JNE) is keeping unresolved, at least until after the election, whether it will issue credentials to mayors who are now running as first councilors and ended up at the head of their slates after the original candidates resigned. According to a report by El Comercio, the full bench opted not to rule before the vote to avoid a decision of that kind altering the campaign.
According to that outlet, JNE sources said the internal debate is intense and that a prior legal definition could be interpreted as an intervention in the race. The discussion covers 129 cases nationwide, including that of Rafael López Aliaga in Lima Metropolitana.
The report adds that, if the JNE were to rule that credentials should go to the second councilors and not to the mayors who are effectively leading the campaign, the political effect would be significant, although it would not change the party control of the winning slates. In the case of Lima, that situation would affect Jeanette Alonzo, current councilor and finance manager of Renovación Popular.
El Comercio also reported that the civil association Transparencia sent a letter to the JNE on November 18 asking for an early definition on these cases. The body’s response, signed by its secretary general Yéssica Clavijo, rejected that request on the grounds that it is not appropriate to establish in advance a general criterion for situations that will depend on the election results.
According to the same report, in that response the JNE also reminded Transparencia of the need to align its election monitoring with the principles and rules in force. From the organization, a source cited by El Comercio said there was no public ruling, but rather an internal technical consultation that was later leaked.
The text notes that the controversy is not limited to Lima. It also reaches San Juan de Lurigancho, where current mayor Jesús Maldonado is running as first councilor after the resignation of César Usquiano Maldonado, and other municipalities in the country. Always according to JNE data cited by El Comercio, in 2026 there are 130 registered cases of this type, compared with 5 in 2022 and 13 in 2018.
The report also says that in 2018 five of those candidates were elected and proclaimed as councilors, not mayors. One of the precedents mentioned is that of Eduardo Bless in San Miguel. The case of Liz Hurtado, current mayor of El Carmen, in Chincha, is also mentioned as a borderline case.
At the same time, El Comercio highlighted that the municipal debate also exposed tensions among candidates. Samuel Daza, a Fuerza Popular candidate, filed a complaint before the Electoral Ethical Pact Tribunal alleging that Rafael López Aliaga had suggested an understanding. Daza told the newspaper that he did not receive instructions from his party to moderate his criticism and said that electoral competition cannot be tied to other political agreements.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
