Right-Wing Election Fraud Lies Threaten to Topple Peru’s Fragile Democracy

Peru’s democracy is teetering on the edge, not because of genuine electoral problems, but due to a right-wing candidate weaponizing false claims of fraud. Rafael López Aliaga, a businessman and former Lima mayor often compared to Donald Trump, has launched an aggressive campaign to delegitimize Peru’s electoral bodies after logistical hiccups in the April 12 presidential vote.

Despite the country’s decade-long political crisis, Peruvians have until now been able to trust their electoral authorities to conduct fair and accurate elections. That trust is now under direct attack. López Aliaga’s campaign has pushed for the removal of Piero Corvetto, head of Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), even as votes were still being counted to determine the runoff candidates.

Corvetto’s ouster came amid a raid on his home by prosecutors, a dramatic escalation fueled by López Aliaga’s baseless claims. At the time, with 96 percent of votes tallied, leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez was narrowly leading López Aliaga by roughly 23,000 votes, positioning Sánchez to face Keiko Fujimori—the daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori—in the June 7 runoff.

López Aliaga’s repeated warnings of fraud have been entirely unsubstantiated. His attacks target both the ONPE and the National Jury of Elections (JNE), the tribunal responsible for resolving electoral disputes. These efforts mirror the tactics used by Trump and his allies to undermine trust in democratic institutions without evidence.

This assault on Peru’s electoral system threatens to deepen the country’s political instability and erode democratic norms at a critical moment. False claims of fraud are not just empty rhetoric—they are a deliberate strategy to destabilize elections and disenfranchise voters.

Peru’s fragile democracy cannot afford to let conspiracy theories and authoritarian playbooks dictate its future. The world must watch closely as these dangerous lies unfold and hold accountable those who seek to sabotage democracy for political gain.