On October 5 Peruvians will gather at the polls to elect members of regional and local (provincial and district) governments. Although slow to start, the campaigns are now at full swing amidst the questioning of many candidates’ credentials. The most outstanding issue in the current elections are the proliferation of candidates supported by hastily devised political groups and the fact that some are being prevented from running either for lying in their CVs or being financed by illicit groups.

This is the case for instance of the mayor of the San Juan de Lurigancho district in Lima, who has twice held office for Solidaridad Nacional (SN). He has been found guilty by the National Electoral Board (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, JNE) of having lied in his CV, falsely claiming to have more than basic-level education. His appeals have so far been unsuccessful and he will not be allowed to compete.

By contrast, the leader of SN and both former mayor of Lima and presidential candidate, Luis Castañeda Lossio, claimed in his CV to be a law graduate from the Catholic University (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú). In fact, he graduated from Universidad San Martín de Porres. He has only been asked to change the information on his CV; this is in spite of having made the same ‘mistake’ in the 2011 election when he was also asked to make the changes.

The El Comercio newspaper notes that five candidates, who had served jail sentences because they were accused of having had links with Sendero Luminoso, have also been allowed to run. There is, however, no legal reason that prevents them from doing so, and they have all presented a full disclosure of their past in their CVs.