On Tuesday, April 21, 2026, Peruvian presidential candidate Rafael López Aliaga of the Renovación Popular party continued to press for special elections to be held before May 3, despite growing consensus among legal experts that such a move lacks constitutional and legal foundation.
López Aliaga made the demand during a public demonstration in the Jesús María district of Lima, where he told supporters that if the National Elections Board (JNE) did not convene the vote, he could not guarantee the outcome. His request stems from claims that approximately one million citizens were unable to cast ballots during the April 12-13 general election due to logistical issues at polling stations.
Legal scholars and electoral authorities have uniformly rejected the proposal. Silvia Guevara, an electoral law expert interviewed by RPP, stated unequivocally that the legal framework does not provide for supplementary elections in national contests. “In the case of general elections, the figure of supplementary elections is not regulated, not contemplated, and there is no legal basis for it to be carried out,” she said, emphasizing that such mechanisms are reserved exclusively for municipal elections under very specific nullity scenarios.
This position was echoed by constitutionalist Alejandro Rospigliosi, who told Exitosa that López Aliaga’s request attempts to create legal precedents where none exist. “They are trying to legislate and invent assumptions that are not in the Organic Law of Elections,” Rospigliosi warned, noting that supplementary elections are only valid for municipal and regional contests, not for national elections involving the presidency and Congress.
Rospigliosi further criticized the JNE for having previously allowed a two-day voting period in Lima, which he described as a legal irregularity. “The Constitution establishes that general elections occur in a single national day. There is no legal basis for having created a second day of voting in Lima,” he said, calling the extension a violation of the Organic Law of Elections.
Additional commentary from Heber Joel Campos, a constitutional lawyer consulted by La República, reinforced the consensus: “There is no legal or constitutional framework that supports this proposal.” The widespread expert agreement underscores the significant legal barriers preventing López Aliaga’s request from being fulfilled, even as he maintains public pressure on electoral authorities.
