Election results: Fujimori meets Wall: Electoral court enters final stage to determine winner in Peru | international

review process Pedro Castillo wins the elections In Peru it is in its last phase, at the point of no return. There is no room for further appeal. The Electoral Tribunal’s opinion, which began this Tuesday to review the cancellations submitted by candidate Keiko Fujimori, will be the step prior to declaring the winner. In a previous stay, all the candidate’s proposed cancellations were rejected as the alleged fraud she referred to had not been proven.

The review could take another two weeks, according to the experts consulted. One month in total from the sixth Sunday, the day of voting. Rare, given that in no election year July was not reached without a candidate being declared the winner. But this scenario has not yet been presented. No politician tried to reject such a number, 200,000 votes. All this delayed the presidential horizon for a country that has experienced five turbulent years. The nation had four different presidents at the time.

Fujimori’s party, Fuerza Popular, maneuvered Announcement of nullity of elections. There have been attempts to make the regular judiciary function and call for new elections. The difference between Castillo and Fujimori was barely 40,000 votes. “The Peruvian constitution expressly states that the ordinary judicial system cannot be used to operate in the ongoing electoral process. It also stipulates that decisions on electoral matters by a national election jury are not subject to appeal, and there is no other example than that,” explains Ivan Lanegra. , Secretary-General of Transparency, a body specialized in monitoring elections.

Once the revocation review is over, everything will speed up. “It’s very fast. Once the resources are taken care of, it is just to formalize the results. There is no other option or anything that can get in the way,” he deepens. Lanegra has been following the electoral processes in Peru for decades. His opinion is clear: “There is no sign of fraud. We have been in all 27 electoral districts and have not found anything close to fraud. Nothing.”

Right-wing politicians and retired military Support the Keiko Fujimori campaign حملة They asked for what was voted down. In parallel, the candidate asked for three times a Appearance statements to gain access to electoral rolls containing polling station members’ signatures and other personal data, while insisting on his allegations of “signature fraud” at some polling stations where he lost. On Friday, a lawyer associated with this political sector, former Supreme Judge Javier Villa Stein, filed a protection case requesting the organization of new elections, claiming “defects in the process” he did not describe or prove.

According to Peruvian regulations, after the plenary session of the Electoral Tribunal (the national election jury) decides on appeals relating to petitions for nullity, and informs the official body examining whether or not there are invalid votes, it amends the final count and – with the final number of votes – declares the winner In the elections, and on July 28 takes over the leadership. Experts insist that other courts cannot interfere with electoral justice.

Constitutional law professor Milagros Campos points out that the National Election Arbitration Commission has the exclusive power to administer justice in electoral matters. “The Constitutional Court has held that filing a protection case against him in no way leads to the suspension of the electoral calendar, which continues its inevitable course.”

Campos, who was a member of the Political Reform Commission in 2019 and a member of the Peruvian Association of Constitutional Law, specifies that an appeal can be lodged if fundamental rights (including political rights) are affected. But the calendar includes Announcement of results“, Add.

On the issue, Professor Cesar Landa, a former judge of the Constitutional Court, told this newspaper that in this case there is an “electoral protection” figure, although there are limitations. “It cannot change the popular will expressed at the ballot box.”

The constitutional law specialist clarifies that, according to the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court, even when the establishment of the constitutional protection process was announced if any of the stages of the electoral schedule had already ended, “it was not possible to return matters to the previous state of violation.” Instead, the Electoral College in the future will have to apply the electoral criterion as interpreted by the Constitutional Court.”

It happened a week ago when the candidate’s lawyers asked the electoral court to accept their requests for cancellation after the deadline for this process expired. The national election jury plenary invoked a decision of the Constitutional Court to state that “electoral processes have final and indefinite deadlines”, which is why she was unable to reopen the admission of applications as Fuerza Popular Counsel. Suggestion.

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