🚨 You usually receive Latin America Weekly on Wednesdays — but we decided to send out this special edition as the electoral imbroglio in Peru is descending into a constitutional crisis. Plus, an attack against Colombian President Iván Duque.
All ballots were counted, but Peru still has no president-elect
It has been 20 days since Peruvians went to the ballots, giving far-left union leader Pedro Castillo a razor-thin electoral advantage of a mere 44,176 votes. Even before the count was over, far-right candidate Keiko Fujimori challenged the results in a bid to overturn the election — or, at the very least, cast doubt on Mr. Castillo’s legitimacy and set him up as a weak president from the outset.
- Now, one member in a four-seat electoral board (known as JNE) responsible for declaring the results has stepped down — essentially blocking the conclusion of the electoral process until someone else takes his place.
- If no president is proclaimed by July 28, the head of Congress would be sworn in as interim head of state and would presumably convene new elections.
Why it matters. This new stage of the crisis has raised fears that Castillo’s victory would be invalidated in an undemocratic fashion....