The most chaotic presidential and parliamentary voting day that we have seen in history, with flagrant violation of the citizen’s right to express their popular will, makes the head of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Piero Corvetto, and the president of the National Elections Jury, Roberto Burneo, practically unsustainable in their positions.
The damage caused to confidence in the electoral process is of such magnitude that the functional and institutional responsibility of both officials is not resolved by referring sanctions to second or third parties. In light of what happened on Sunday, with thousands of voters (the figure of about 52,000 from the ONPE is ridiculous) held in check without voting, Corvetto and Burneo can no longer conduct, at their jurisdictional and organizational levels, the second electoral round. Both should not delay leaving their positions before going through the pressure of having to do so or ending up dismissed.
Perhaps it is worth noting that the country and many of its authorities at the highest level are no longer ready to accept the trend and the very common practice of recent times, of accepting the fait accompli, wherever they come from. One day the Congress of the Republic is unconstitutionally dissolved and the Constitutional Court of that time endorses it. Another day, President Pedro Castillo carries out a coup d’état, committing the crime of rebellion, and not only does nothing happen to him criminally, but he becomes a subject of pardon for the current presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez, his traitor of yesterday and his defender of today. And, of course, how can we not remember today’s JNE dictating a decision of political morality, in style, removing a historic party like Acción Popular from the electoral race, having simply had enough to criminally denounce those responsible for irregularities in its primary elections. However, this same JNE, in the purest style of the one chaired by Jorge Salas Arenas in the 2021 elections, has allowed the presidential competition of candidates with criminal court sentences, with public lies on their resumes and with serious irregularities in their records and registrations.
Precisely, regarding the 2021 elections, there are serious charges against the electoral administration of the ONPE, which do not leave Corvetto well off. Its ratification by the JNJ, through a last-minute appeal after losing it, was precisely one of the faits accomplis that allowed him to take responsibility for the 2026 elections. Now it is his own actions, in flagrante delicto, that place him in the honorable need to step aside, on the side of Burneo.
These are the most complex and evil elections in history. Unfortunately, neither Burneo nor Corvetto have been up to the task of carrying them out with the trust and dignity demanded by 27 million Peruvians called to vote in full exercise of their right to vote.
Whoever called these elections, the Presidency of the Republic, and those who elected Messrs. Burneo and Corvetto, the Judiciary and the JNJ, have the duty to restore the country’s immediate confidence in the second electoral round.
*El Comercio opens its pages to the exchange of ideas and reflections. In this plural framework, the Diario does not necessarily agree with the opinions of the columnists who sign them, although it always respects them.
