Lima Mayoral Race on a Knife Edge: Lopez Aliaga Leads Allison 27.68% to 26.88% With 92% Counted, Eligibility in Doubt
LIMA - The race for mayor of Peru's capital was still too close to call as counting neared its end on October 5. With 92.02% of votes counted, the ONPE put Rafael Lopez Aliaga of the right-wing Renovacion Popular ahead with 27.68%, followed closely by Francis Allison of the centre-right Avanza Pais with 26.88% - a gap of less than one percentage point. Lima, home to some 11 million people, is Peru's largest electoral prize.
Lopez Aliaga's lead comes with controversy. He won the Lima mayoralty in the previous municipal election but resigned in 2025, before completing his four-year term, to run for president; this time he topped Renovacion Popular's list after its original candidate withdrew early in the campaign. Peruvian law bars the immediate re-election of mayors, and rivals call his candidacy a disguised re-election; some 153 candidates nationwide reportedly ran under the same arrangement. The National Jury of Elections (JNE) must decide whether he can take a new municipal term.
Lopez Aliaga is an ally of the Fujimori government in Congress. Notably, the candidate of Fujimori's own Fuerza Popular finished near the bottom in Lima - the capital's right-leaning vote flowed mainly to Renovacion Popular. Nationally, first-round results in many regions were similarly fragmented, with runoff arrangements still being coordinated.
Final confirmation of Lima's next mayor may await the JNE's ruling on eligibility. Whoever takes city hall, security, transport and municipal services are the capital's most urgent demands - the common ground on which all candidates in this election campaigned.
Sources: Compiled from Reuters reporting of Monday, October 5, 2026, on the Lima count and the eligibility controversy.
Source: 路透社
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 利马贝纳维德斯大道一带的城市建筑，vacajulian708 摄，CC BY 2.0（Wikimedia Commons）
