Former Peruvian presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez filed a request for precautionary measures with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) regarding alleged violations of political rights and judicial guarantees during the second round of the election.
This action represents a momentous exercise in democracy, as it seeks to ensure the process is concluded with complete transparency, urging the state’s oversight institutions not to overlook—and without explaining to the public—the legal amendments made in the midst of the process, as well as the transfer of election records without the necessary safeguards, among other issues.
In the 2026 General Elections, citizen participation has been effective. Voters “punished” with their ballots the political parties that failed to represent national interests (more than 15 organizations failed to meet the electoral threshold); they took to the streets continuously; and, cell phones in hand, they reported the irregularities they witnessed on the ground, alerting the responsible authorities in real time.
Today, following Roberto Sánchez’s call, the public continues to demand integrity in the process, demonstrating a political maturity that will benefit the country through the demand for greater legitimacy, legality, information, and citizen participation. There is no turning back.
Rule Changes in the Middle of the Process
The president of Juntos por el Perú, Roberto Sánchez, maintains that in the midst of the second round of elections, the rules governing the overseas voting process were altered by eliminating the procedure for digitizing and transmitting election records from Peruvian consulates, thereby violating the principle of regulatory inviolability, which prohibits changing the rules while the electoral process is underway. This undermined legal certainty, public trust, and the transparency of the elections.
The elimination of this mechanism prevented the establishment of a system for the immediate verification of results obtained abroad, creating uncertainty regarding the integrity and traceability of the votes cast by thousands of Peruvian citizens residing outside the country.
A transfer would compromise the chain of custody and the integrity of the process
It also questions the conditions under which the physical ballots were transported from various countries to Peru, as well as the time it took for them to be received—circumstances that, according to the document, compromised the chain of custody and the guarantees of transparency in the process.
Furthermore, the petition warns that the high cost of the fees required to request the annulment of a vote at a polling station—equivalent to S/ 1,375 soles per request—constitutes a disproportionate financial barrier to accessing effective judicial protection. This amount exceeds the income of many citizens, limiting the exercise of the right to challenge alleged irregularities and restricting access to electoral justice.
In light of these facts, Roberto Sánchez requested that the IACHR admit the petition, grant the requested precautionary measure, and order the necessary actions to safeguard the political rights, judicial guarantees, and effective access to justice of Peruvian citizens, as well as to strengthen the principles of transparency, legality, and trust in electoral processes. We await further developments.
