Peru Vote Count Puts New Rival in Piura Runoff at 96%
PERU · ELECTIONS
Key Facts
- —The country Peru, a big copper and silver producer on South America’s Pacific coast, elected 25 regional governors on Sunday 4 October 2026.
- —What happened Podemos Perú’s Guillermo La Torre passed Somos Perú’s Santiago Paz on Monday 5 October and still held second place in Piura on Tuesday.
- —The numbers Piura at 96.009% counted (11:32 a.m. Lima, 6 October): Alianza para el Progreso 22.039%, Podemos Perú 18.051%, Somos Perú 17.822%.
- —The other regions No ticket has 30% in Junín (98.261% counted), Pasco (99.113%) or Loreto (80.803%), so all four point to runoffs.
- —The date The JNE, Peru’s electoral court, set the runoff for Sunday 29 November; ONPE, the election office, has asked to move it to 6 December.
- —Why it matters The four regions hold Petroperú’s Talara and Iquitos refineries, part of its northern oil pipeline and Pan American Silver’s Huaron mine.
- —Still open More than 185 Piura tally sheets, with over 37,000 votes, await the special election juries, and the runoff date is not settled.
A late swing in Peru’s official vote count has put a new challenger into the Piura runoff for regional governor. Piura, on the northern coast, is home to the Talara oil refinery of state oil company Petroperú.
Guillermo La Torre of Podemos Perú passed Santiago Paz of Somos Perú on Monday and held second place on Tuesday’s 96.009% count. Junín and Pasco in the mining Andes and Loreto in the Amazon also look headed for a second round.
How La Torre Overtook Paz in Piura
Piura’s official count turned on Monday 5 October. Until that morning, Paz looked secure in second place, the Piura daily El Tiempo reported.
At 89% counted, Paz still led La Torre by 17.906% to 17.757%, the site Noticias Piura 3.0 reported. Around 1 p.m. Lima time, La Torre moved ahead by just over 600 votes.
Sheets from Piura’s Andean provinces then widened his lead, El Tiempo said. Sunday night’s exit poll by Datum, a Lima polling firm, had shown Paz second with 20.2%.
On Tuesday, ONPE’s count at 96.009% showed Reynaldo Hilbck of Alianza para el Progreso first with 22.039%. La Torre had 18.051% and Paz 17.822%, in ONPE figures updated at 11:32 a.m. Lima time and published by El Comercio.
On the earlier 96.02% count, El Tiempo put La Torre’s lead over Paz at 2,243 votes. La Torre won the provinces of Ayabaca, Huancabamba, Paita and Sechura.
Paz carried Piura, Morropón, Sullana and Talara, but his big lead in Piura province was not enough. That makes the Piura runoff a contest between Hilbck and La Torre, unless disputed sheets reverse the order.
More than 185 Piura sheets, with over 37,000 votes, await review by the special election juries, El Tiempo reported. These are local electoral courts set up by the JNE for each election.
Who Is on the Piura Runoff Ballot
Hilbck, the front-runner in the Piura runoff, leads the ticket of Alianza para el Progreso (APP), businessman César Acuña’s party. He also ran in 2022 for a regional movement, Unidad Regional, and led the early count, state news agency Andina reported then.
Podemos Perú, La Torre’s party, was founded by economist and businessman José Luna Gálvez, who still presides over it. Few voters knew La Torre before the race, and that helped him, campaign specialist Marcos Abad told El Tiempo.
Somos Perú, Paz’s party, led or placed in the top three in most regions on Monday morning’s count, Infobae noted. Its candidate Miguel Cueva led the race for mayor of Piura province by 6,191 votes at 95.9% counted, El Tiempo reported.
Mayors are elected in a single round, unlike the Piura runoff for governor.
Junín and Pasco Fall Short of 30%
In Junín, the central Andean region around the city of Huancayo, Fernando Orihuela of Podemos Perú led with 29.137% at 98.261% counted. Arnoldo Mallma of APP had 27.085%, according to ONPE figures published by El Comercio.
Datum’s exit poll had given Orihuela 32.1%, enough to win outright, but the official count pushed him under the bar. HYTimes, a Huancayo news site, reported the same 98.261% figure at 9:26 a.m. on Tuesday.
Mallma spoke on radio La Ruta in Satipo, where HYTimes says he drew his strongest support. “Now we are going to play our play-off,” he said.
He also questioned the experience in regional government that Orihuela campaigns on, citing the stalled Arakaki hospital. HYTimes notes that the hospital project is now before the courts.
In Pasco, home to the Huaron silver mine, Lucio Rojas of Frente de la Esperanza 2021 led with 28.528% at 99.113% counted. Luis Pomachagua of Podemos Perú followed with 24.353%, in ONPE figures El Comercio updated at 4:06 p.m. on Monday 5 October.
Frente de la Esperanza 2021 is the party of former presidential candidate Fernando Olivera. Datum’s exit poll had put Rojas at 31.6%, above the line.
Loreto Is Still Counting
Loreto, the Amazon region around the city of Iquitos, has the slowest count of the four. At 80.803% counted, in figures El Comercio updated at 1:46 p.m. Lima time on Tuesday, Germán Chong of Somos Perú led with 27.916%.
Fernando Meléndez of APP had 24.083%, and Renovación Popular, the conservative party of Lima politician Rafael López Aliaga, had 15.403%. Datum’s exit poll had put Meléndez first, with 26.7% to Chong’s 24.8%.
On Monday morning only 56.08% of Loreto’s sheets had been counted, Infobae reported. The Loreto daily La Región notes that election material there has to travel by river, road and air.
How Peru’s 30% Rule Works
A ticket of governor and vice-governor needs at least 30% of valid votes to win in the first round. Blank and spoiled ballots do not count as valid votes.
Where no ticket reaches 30%, the two most-voted tickets meet again, under article 5 of Peru’s Regional Elections Law. Mayors and regional councillors face no runoff.
The JNE set Sunday 29 November for the Piura runoff and the others, and juries must settle disputed sheets by Wednesday 28 October. ONPE’s interim head, Bernardo Pachas, has asked to move the vote to Sunday 6 December.
On Tuesday morning’s figures, Infobae listed 15 of Peru’s 25 regions heading for runoffs. The Full List of Peru’s 29 November 2026 Runoffs used Monday morning’s figures, before La Torre passed Paz in Piura.
What It Means for You
For US investors, the four runoffs keep regional politics open for about eight more weeks in oil and mining country. Pasco’s Huaron mine belongs to Pan American Silver, a Vancouver-based miner listed in New York.
Huaron yields silver-rich zinc, lead and copper concentrates. In Piura, Petroperú reported on Monday 5 October an eighth illegal tap on its Norperuvian Pipeline, in the Sechura desert.
The company says Section II of the pipeline has been idle since 12 July 2024 because of low crude stocks. Petroperú also runs a refinery in Iquitos, Loreto’s capital, where the count is slowest.
The Piura runoff and the other three elect only governors and vice-governors, not mayors or councils.
What Is Not Known
None of the four regions had reached 100% on the latest cuts. In Junín, 41 sheets were bound for the special election juries at the 96.9% stage, HYTimes reported.
The Piura runoff line-up could still move, since the disputed sheets hold far more votes than La Torre’s lead of just over 2,000. Loreto’s order could also change, with almost a fifth of its sheets still out.
It is not known whether the JNE will accept ONPE’s request to move the runoff to 6 December. The final list of runoff tickets depends on the close of the count and the jury rulings.
More: Peru news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who will contest the Piura runoff?
On ONPE’s count at 96.009%, the Piura runoff would pit Reynaldo Hilbck of Alianza para el Progreso against Guillermo La Torre of Podemos Perú. La Torre leads Santiago Paz of Somos Perú for second place by just over 2,000 votes, so the disputed sheets still matter.
Did anyone win outright in Junín, Loreto or Pasco?
No, not on the latest official counts. No ticket reached 30% of valid votes in any of the three, so the top two in each would meet again.
When is the Piura runoff?
The JNE set Sunday 29 November 2026 for the Piura runoff and Peru’s other regional runoffs. ONPE has asked to move it to Sunday 6 December, and the JNE had not announced a change by Tuesday 6 October.
Where can I check the official results?
ONPE publishes the count at resultadoelectoral.onpe.gob.pe. Anyone can look up a polling table or a scanned tally sheet there.
Sources: ONPE: results published on its website (resultadoelectoral.onpe.gob.pe), 4 October 2026; ONPE: 100% of sheets processed in Lima and five regions, 5 October 2026; Petroperú: Norperuvian Pipeline faces eighth illegal tap (NP-059), 5 October 2026; Pan American Silver: Huaron, Pasco, Peru, 6 October 2026; Pan American Silver: company website (NYSE: PAAS), 6 October 2026; El Comercio: ONPE results, Piura region, 6 October 2026; El Comercio: ONPE results, Loreto region, 6 October 2026; El Comercio: ONPE results, Junín region, 5 October 2026; El Comercio: ONPE results, Pasco region, 5 October 2026; El Tiempo (Piura): Conteo de infarto para definir pase a la segunda vuelta, 6 October 2026; El Tiempo (Piura): Vuelco en Piura, ONPE al 95.5%, 5 October 2026; Noticias Piura 3.0: La Torre y Paz disputan el pase a segunda vuelta regional, 5 October 2026; HYTimes (Huancayo): Mallma va a segunda vuelta en Junín con Orihuela, 6 October 2026; HYTimes (Huancayo): ONPE al 96.9% en Junín, 5 October 2026; Infobae Perú: Segunda vuelta regional 2026, 6 October 2026; Infobae Perú: Resultados ONPE en vivo, 25 regiones, 5 October 2026; ATV: ERM 2026 exit poll for regional governors (Datum), 4 October 2026; La Región (Iquitos): Chong y Meléndez se perfilan para una segunda vuelta, 5 October 2026; El Tiempo (Piura): Elecciones 2026 en la región Piura, así quedó el panorama político, 6 October 2026; El Tiempo (Piura): Piura, Castilla y Veintiséis de Octubre con nuevos alcaldes, 6 October 2026; Podemos Perú: party website (founder-president José Luna Gálvez), 6 October 2026; El Comercio: Fernando Olivera, presidential candidate of Frente de la Esperanza 2021, 24 March 2026; Andina: ONPE count for Piura governor, 2022, 3 October 2022.
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