Peru Lima Mayor Race: López Aliaga Warns Election Judges
PERU · ELECTIONS
Key Facts
- —The country Peru, a South American nation on the Pacific, elected 13,148 local officials, including 25 regional governors, on Sunday 4 October.
- —The background Peru’s constitution bars mayors from immediate re-election, so former Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga ran as first councillor instead.
- —Why now His party’s mayoral candidate withdrew in August, so whether the mayor’s credential goes to him if his list wins Lima is for the electoral authorities to decide.
- —What happened López Aliaga said election judges would commit a crime if they deny him the mayor’s credential; the court’s president rejected any threat.
- —The numbers At 61.686% of tally sheets counted, his list had 28.155% of valid votes against 27.931% for Francis Allison.
- —What it means for you Lima’s leadership for the 2027 to 2030 term may stay unsettled into November, with appeals possible after the count.
- —Still open The count is unfinished, and no court has said who would receive the credential if his list wins.
Former Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga says Peru’s election judges would commit a crime if they deny him the city’s top job. His list led Monday’s partial count by less than a quarter of a point.
The catch is legal, not arithmetic. Peru’s constitution bars mayors from immediate re-election, so López Aliaga ran on Sunday 4 October as first councillor, not as mayor.
Where the Lima Mayor Count Stands
At 61.686% of tally sheets counted, Renovación Popular, López Aliaga’s conservative party, had 28.155% of valid votes. Francis Allison of the Avanza País party had 27.931%.
The figures come from ONPE, Peru’s national election office, as published by Gestión at 1:44 a.m. Lima time on Monday. Carlos Bruce of Somos Perú was third with 15.234%, and Daniel Urresti of Podemos Perú fourth with 7.591%.
Lima has 26,351 tally sheets in all, and the Lima mayor race has no runoff: the list with most valid votes wins. Earlier cuts and the full candidate table are in the Lima results report of 5 October.
A quick count by the polling firm Datum, built from a sample of tally sheets, showed a technical tie. It gave the Renovación Popular list 27.6% and Allison 26.7%, with a margin of error of 1 point.
Who Was Actually on the Ballot
On paper, Renovación Popular’s candidate for Lima mayor was Luis Rubio Idrogo, a surgeon. López Aliaga, elected mayor for the 2023 to 2026 term, had resigned to run for president and was registered as first councillor.
In Peru the first councillor is also the deputy mayor, or teniente alcalde. The municipalities law says that person replaces the mayor if the post falls vacant, as Renovación Popular lawmaker Roxana Rocha noted.
Rubio withdrew on 4 August, citing strictly personal reasons. The Lima Centro special electoral jury, the first-instance election court for the capital, accepted his resignation on 5 August.
Election lawyers told El Comercio that the list then stayed in the race without a mayoral candidate. López Aliaga never became that candidate, but whether he would receive the mayor’s credential if the list won is still for the electoral authorities to decide.
Gestión counts 26 lists in the Lima race. Twenty-four have a mayoral candidate, and two are headed only by a first councillor.
His registration had already survived one fight. On 30 June the Lima Centro jury rejected it, because he had been elected senator in April.
The National Jury of Elections (JNE), Peru’s top electoral court, overturned that ruling on 13 July. López Aliaga has refused to take up his Senate seat.
‘I Am Not Running for Mayor’
López Aliaga set out his case at a press conference on Sunday night. “It is forbidden to run, not to be,” he told reporters.
“I am not running for mayor,” he added, and it was never his intention to be mayor. In his reading, the constitution bars a mayor from seeking re-election, not from running as deputy mayor.
If the JNE goes against the law, he said, its members would commit prevaricato, a criminal offence. He declined to reveal his legal strategy.
He also said the court has for years let former mayors who ran as first councillors take office, Gestión reported. He did not name the cases.
Why Critics Call It a Hidden Re-election
Article 194 of Peru’s constitution bans the immediate re-election of mayors. So a former Lima mayor may run again only after at least one full term has passed.
Urresti, a former minister, said on Sunday that handing López Aliaga the credential would be unconstitutional “from my point of view”. He blamed the JNE for letting Lima vote without knowing who could receive it.
The credential is the document that accredits a winner as mayor. The Lima Centro jury proclaims the winner once ONPE finishes, and parties can appeal to the JNE plenary.
Fernando Tuesta, a political scientist and former head of ONPE, told RPP that both options now carry a cost. A refusal lets López Aliaga cite the popular vote, while granting it would breach the constitution and set a precedent, he said.
Under Tuesta’s reading, the post would formally pass to the next person on the list. That is Jeanette Alonzo Contreras, an accountant, sitting Lima councillor and the party’s finance manager, according to El Comercio.
His Main Rival Backs His Right to Serve
The strongest support for López Aliaga’s position came from the man he narrowly leads. Allison, mayor of the Lima district of Magdalena del Mar, called it “serious” to let candidates run and then void their candidacy.
He cited more than 130 similar cases across Peru of mayors running as first councillors. He also said he would accept the result if the official count confirms the quick count.
The two men agreed on Panamericana TV on Sunday night to meet for coffee on Monday. “I am a man of dialogue,” Allison said.
The Election Court Rejects Pressure
Roberto Burneo, the JNE’s president, rejected the pressure on Sunday night. Nobody may threaten the special juries or the plenary, he told a press conference, or try to sway their independent decisions.
He said the court would explain its reasoning, even if people disliked the outcome. Recounts may run until 28 October, and he expects regional results by early November, perhaps with municipal ones.
On Saturday, Burneo had said the credential question was not in dispute in the cases the court had already decided. The plenary ruled, by majority, only that a former mayor may run as first councillor.
In the Regions: A Former President Faces a Runoff
Regional governors need at least 30% of valid votes to win outright, or they face a runoff on Sunday 29 November. Datum’s exit poll points to 14 such runoffs, listed in the regional runoff report of 5 October.
One name stands out. In the northern region of Tumbes, former president Manuel Merino of Acción Popular came second in Datum’s exit poll with 20.5%.
Carlos Feijoo of Fe en el Perú led with 27%, and Luis Arévalo of Somos Perú was close behind Merino on 19.2%. The state agency Andina says the runoff would pit Feijoo against Merino or Arévalo.
Merino was president for five days in November 2020 and resigned after street protests against his government. An exit poll is an estimate, and only ONPE’s count decides.
What Comes Next
ONPE will keep publishing cuts as tally sheets arrive, and disputed sheets go to the special juries. Only after the count ends will the Lima Centro jury proclaim a winner and decide who becomes Lima mayor.
Any appeal then goes to the JNE plenary. The next Lima mayor serves from 2027 to 2030, so nobody takes office this year.
The dispute does not leave Lima without a government: Renzo Reggiardo remains mayor until the new term. Nor does it touch national policy, since President Keiko Fujimori‘s government was not on Sunday’s ballot.
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Did Rafael López Aliaga run for Lima mayor in 2026?
Not formally. He was registered as first councillor, or deputy mayor, on the Renovación Popular list. The list’s mayoral candidate, Luis Rubio, withdrew in August, so the electoral authorities must still decide whether López Aliaga would receive the mayor’s credential if the list wins.
Why is his candidacy controversial?
Article 194 of Peru’s constitution bans the immediate re-election of mayors. López Aliaga was elected Lima mayor for 2023 to 2026, and rivals and legal specialists call the arrangement a hidden re-election.
What is the credential López Aliaga is demanding?
It is the document that accredits the winner as Lima mayor after the electoral jury proclaims the result. He says denying it would be prevaricato, a crime, while the court’s president says nobody may threaten its judges.
When will Lima know its next mayor?
The next Lima mayor may not be confirmed for weeks. Recounts may run until 28 October, and the JNE expects regional results by early November, perhaps with municipal ones. Any appeal over the credential would come after that.
Sources: Gestión, 5 October 2026; Gestión, 5 October 2026; El Comercio, 5 October 2026; El Comercio, 5 August 2026; RPP, 4 October 2026; RPP, 4 October 2026; RPP, 5 August 2026; RPP, 13 July 2026; Infobae, 5 October 2026; Infobae, 4 October 2026; La República, 4 October 2026; Trome, 5 October 2026; Infobae, 5 October 2026; Andina, 5 October 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief