An ongoing long-term political crisis began in Peru during the presidency of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in late 2016 and has substantially worsened under the rule of his various successors. The crisis has been marked by mass protests, labor strikes, corruption scandals, rising crime levels, political violence, and political instability that has led the country into a state of democratic backsliding and emerging authoritarianism.Peru's Castillo says opponents trying to 'blow up' democracy with impeachment trial
Under Kuczynski's term, Peru had a divided government, with the Congress of the Republic being held by the right-wing opposition parties of Popular Force, led by Keiko Fujimori, and its allies. This state of division within the government led to conflict between the executive and legislative branches of government. After a series of corruption scandals and attempts to remove him, Kuczysnki resigned under major pressure in March 2018. His successor, Martín Vizcarra, led a more confrontational approach towards Congress, vowing major reforms against corruption. As a result of the conflict, Vizcarra dissolved Congress in September 2019, sparking a constitutional crisis and snap legislative elections in January 2020, which led to Popular Force losing its majority in Congress. Vizcarra would later be impeached and then removed from office in November 2020, with Congress installing Manuel Merino as president. The removal was widely categorized as a coup d'état, which led to mass protests and Merino's resignation after five days in office. He was later replaced with Francisco Sagasti.
Under Sagasti's term, general elections were held, which led to the left-wing Pedro Castillo defeating Keiko Fujimori from Popular Force in the presidential election. As a result, Fujimori and her allies attempted to overturn the election, leading to an electoral crisis and allegations of a coup. However, Castillo was nonetheless declared as winner and was inaugurated regularly. Under his term, right-wing parties returned to a majority in Congress, which led to a more divisive conflict emerging. Castillo endured major obstructionist efforts amidst his presidency.
After several attempts to remove him, Castillo attempted a self-coup by illegally dissolving Congress in December 2022, which promptly led to his removal. His vice president and successor, Dina Boluarte, then allied herself with the right-wing Congress, which led to mass unrest and a widely-criticized crackdown on dissent. During her presidency, Fujimorists and their right-wing allies packed institutions and consolidated power, which led to accelerated democratic erosion. After a major security crisis emerged and further protests occurred, Boluarte was removed from office in October 2025 and replaced by José Jerí; however, protests continued under his administration. Jerí himself would be removed from office four months later for a corruption scandal that emerged after he had undisclosed meetings with Chinese businessmen. In the aftermath of the 2026 general election's first round, candidate Rafael López Aliaga made widespread allegations of electoral fraud amidst voting delays caused by ONPE, leading to an electoral crisis. The second round would be won by Fujimori, furthering the crisis as candidate Roberto Sánchez refused to concede and instead falsely claimed that electoral fraud had occurred in a similar manner to what Fujimori had done five years prior.
Throughout the crisis, many human rights organizations have criticized the government's reaction to protests,Peru's Deteriorating Human Rights Situation Signals Deeper Political Crisis while other non-governmental organizations have warned of accelerating democratic backsliding. Nominations for the Constitutional Tribunal that lacked transparency were condemned by United States Congress members in a July 2023 letter to President Joe Biden. The United Nations has also criticized the terruqueo fearmongering tactic used by Fujimorists and the Peruvian government to paint dissidents as terrorist sympathizers. Merino's response to the 2020 protests and Castillo's response to the 2022 protests were both also criticized for use of excessive force and both were labeled as authoritarians as a result. Under the government of Dina Bolaurte, over 80 deaths were reported during protests, with an attorney from the Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos stated that the impunity rate for extrajudicial killings was "close to 100%". A wide range of human rights violations were also reported by NGOs to have been committed by the government of Boluarte, including massacres in Ayacucho and Juliaca. Boluarte's government was later labeled as "a growing militaristic government" as a result of the heavy influence of the armed forces within government and its undemocratic tendencies. The Peruvian Public Ministry controversy also revealed how independent institutions were packed with government supporters, further crushing dissent. As a result, Peru has been labeled a "failed democracy".Elected politicians have failed in Peru – here's what must come next
Political corruption has also dominated the crisis greatly, with almost all of Peru's living former presidents having been investigated or convicted of such. As a result, support for established political parties in the country has plummeted, while confidence in politicians has also fallen as a result. During their rule, Fujimorists had "earned a reputation as hardline obstructionists for blocking initiatives popular with Peruvians aimed at curbing the nation’s rampant corruption" according to the Associated Press, while another political analyst described Congress as being infiltrated by criminal organizations "that obstruct reforms to maintain their status and parliamentary immunity". Much of Peru's population also views Congress as being more focused on personal gain, vote trading, and advancing their political agenda rather than the issues facing the nation, especially corruption. Decades of economic inequality between the interior of the nation and the primate city Lima has also plagued the nation, with this inequality being attributed to both racism and endemic corruption.
Background
Following the collapse of the Fujimori regime in November 2000, his political legacy was followed by his daughter Keiko Fujimori, who led the Fujimorist Popular Force party. Fujimori and her party, as well as their right-wing allies in Congress, led an obstructionist campaign during the presidency of Ollanta Humala, who led a weak presidency as a result and was essentially powerless.
The 2016 elections had some of the largest political blocs at the time, Popular Force led by Keiko Fujimori, Broad Front led by Verónika Mendoza and Peruvians for Change directed by Kuczynski. At first, it was believed that both the Congress and the Presidency would be occupied by the members of Popular Force due to their overwhelming majority; the other two parties already mentioned occupied the third and second place respectively. Mendoza (who was in third place) decided to ask her voters to support the election of the Peruvians for Change party so that she could achieve power. The objective of the Broad Front was to counteract the large number of voters who had Popular Force. This objective was half-fulfilled, since Kuczynski came to the Presidency by a narrow margin, while Popular Force managed to maintain hegemony in Congress.
In the Constitution of Peru, Article 113 allows for the removal of the President of Peru for "moral incapacity", with the measure existing since the 1839 Constitution of Peru. The term was originally meant to refer to mental disorders, and was juxtaposed to "physical incapacity". The Constitution of Ecuador notably had a similar cause for impeachment, but it was later reworded as "mental incapacity". Until 2004, there was not a concrete procedure to enact the vacancy of a president, with the Constitutional Court of Peru recommending a clarified process. In recent times, however, "moral incacapacity" had been reinterpreted as meaning literal "inmoral" behavior. As a result, Congress can basically impeach the President of Peru without cause, effectively making the legislature more powerful than the executive branch.
Timeline
Kuczynski presidency Following the 2016 election of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to the presidency, tensions between the PPK-led executive branch and the opposition-led congress, dominated by Fujimorists from the Popular Force (Divided government), rose. Corruption scandals plagued the government for the first year, as well as the Odebrecht scandal, national protests and strikes, and cabinet resignations.
Executive-Congress conflict begins On 17 August 2017, members of Congress belonging to Popular Force filed a motion of interpellation against the Minister of Education Marilú Martens who was in negotiations with the representatives of the teachers, in search of the solution to a prolonged teacher strike. On 25 August, the plenary session of the Congress approved the motion of interpellation, with 79 votes in favor, 12 against and 6 abstentions. The votes in favor were from the bench of Popular Force, APRA, Broad Front and Popular Action. The date of the interpellation was set as 8 September. Martens answered a list of 40 questions, mainly about the teachers' strike that still persisted. Martens acknowledged deficiencies in facing the teachers' strike, but assured that her management would not reverse the recognition of meritocracy within the teaching profession. On 13 September, the Popular Force congresspeople announced that they would submit a motion of censure against Martens, since they claimed that she had not responded satisfactorily to the questions of the interpellation. Faced with this threat of censorship (which would be the second against a head of Education in less than a year), Prime Minister Fernando Zavala asked Congress a question of confidence for the full ministerial cabinet. Zavala's request was criticized by Congress, stating that Zavala was in solidarity with a minister who was questioned, endangering her entire cabinet, and even more, when the motion of censure had not yet been made official. It was also said that the "renewal of trust" was something that the Constitution did not contemplate. In any case, the Board of Spokespersons of the Congress summoned Zavala on 14 September to support her request for confidence. Zavala presented himself to the plenary session of the Congress with the ministers and presented his request in 12 minutes; his argument focused on the government's intention to defend the education policy that was intended, according to him, to undermine the education minister's censure. Then they proceeded to the parliamentary debate. The question of trust was debated for 7 hours and voted on 15 September. The cabinet failed to obtain the confidence of the Parliament, which voted against the confidence with 77, which produced the total crisis of the cabinet.
On 17 September, Second Vice President Mercedes Aráoz was sworn in as president of the Council of Ministers of Peru and with this, five new ministers were announced: Claudia Cooper Fort (Economy), Idel Vexler (Education), Enrique Mendoza Ramírez (Justice and Human Rights), Fernando d'Alessio (Health) and Carlos Bruce (Housing). The new head of the cabinet was sworn in with the 18 ministers in a ceremony held in the Court of Honor of the Government Palace. On 6 October, the vote of confidence was given and if it were to fail, the president would have the right to dissolve Congress and call new elections, as the Constitution of 1993 said. The vote of confidence was delayed until 12 October, beginning with the exhibitions of the new cabinet led by Aráoz and subsequent intervention of the different political caucuses of the Congress until the next day. It resulted in 83 votes in favor and 17 against.