Overview
- The JNE plenary issued the binding criterion on Saturday, November 7, ruling that anyone who served as mayor in the immediately prior term and ran as first regidor cannot be proclaimed or receive credentials to assume that same mayoralty.
- Applied to Lima, the rule would prevent Rafael López Aliaga from receiving mayoral credentials and would make second regidor Jeanette Alonzo the habilitated authority pending the Jurado Electoral Especial’s formal proclamation.
- The tribunal has begun a staged review of proclamations: it evaluated 427 cases in the first block, plans a second block of more than 600, and projects reviewing about 1,900 proclamations this month, already identifying six jurisdictions that must correct proclamations.
- The decision passed by majority vote of the JNE (Roberto Burneo, Gunther Gonzales and Rubén Torres) with two dissenters (Martha Maisch and Aaron Oyarce), and has prompted immediate legal and political responses including Rafael López Aliaga’s announced criminal, civil and constitutional actions.
- The ruling rests on the Constitution’s ban on immediate mayoral re-election and closes a tactic critics called 'reelección encubierta'; it could change who governs multiple municipalities, prompt court challenges to the JNE’s timing and authority, and renew calls for clearer electoral rules.