The president is chief of state and head of government. Presidents are directly elected to a five-year term and may serve nonconsecutive terms. Prior to 2021, the last president to be seated through a national election was Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2016.

Pedro Castillo of the leftist Peru Libre party narrowly beat conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori in a two-round election held in April and June 2021. The election, which saw a voter turnout of over 70 percent, was deemed free and fair by both local and international election monitors. Fujimori unsuccessfully challenged the results, with the National Board of Elections (JNE) declaring Castillo as the winner that July.

Opposition members of Congress unsuccessfully attempted to impeach Castillo in late 2021 and March 2022. In December 2022, hours before Congress planned to hold a vote on impeaching Castillo on charges of “moral incapacity,” Castillo attempted to illegally dissolve Congress and seize power in a so-called autogolpe (self-coup). Members of his government and the military immediately denounced Castillo’s actions, and he was removed from office after Congress voted to impeach him. Police arrested Castillo hours later on charges of sedition and conspiracy “for violating the constitutional order.” Castillo remained in prison at the end of 2023.

Congress appointed then vice president Dina Boluarte to the presidency. Boluarte took office within hours of Castillo’s removal, becoming the country’s sixth president in less than five years. In January 2023, as protests against her administration continued, Boluarte called on Congress to move the next presidential election forward to December, but Congress voted against that request. In June, President Boluarte said that she would serve the remainder of her term, which legally ends in 2026.

Members of the 130-member unicameral Congress are elected for five-year terms; reelection is not permitted. Congressional balloting employs an open-list, region-based system of proportional representation, with a 5 percent vote hurdle for a party to enter the legislature.

Ten parties entered Congress following the 2021 general elections, which were deemed competitive and peaceful by international observers. Peru Libre won 37 seats, becoming the largest party represented in Congress, followed by Keiko Fujimori’s previously dominant, right-wing Popular Force (FP), which took 24. No party won a majority of seats.

The JNE has taken steps to improve transparency surrounding the electoral process, but insufficiently regulated campaign financing remains a serious issue. International observers praised the conduct of the JNE and the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) during the 2021 elections, reporting that both bodies had operated efficiently and transparently.

However, lawmakers from the FP and the right-wing Popular Renovation (RP) party continued to allege that the JNE helped perpetrate electoral fraud in the 2021 elections. RP lawmakers had launched a lawsuit against the JNE over its conduct that October. In July 2023, the TC ruled that a congressional commission formed to investigate the JNE was unconstitutional. However, the TC later upheld Congress’s power to investigate the JNE and its chief, Jorge Luis Salas Arenas. Salas received death threats from far-right actors in 2023, prompting the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to grant him and his family protective measures in September.

Peruvian parties, while competitive, are both highly fragmented and personalized. Though there are limits on individual donations, there are no constraints on spending by political parties, offering an outsized advantage to parties able to secure abundant funds.

In December 2023, Congress passed the Law of Political Organization, which makes party formation substantially more difficult. One of its provisions mandates regional groups, which often govern at the local level in Peru, to secure 700,000 signatures to be registered, which observers said they would likely be unable to provide. The law also eliminated primary elections and pending fines against existing political parties.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 due to the adoption of legislation that raised the minimum membership threshold required for political parties to register, making it more difficult for smaller, regional political parties to effectively function and meaningfully contest elections.

Opposition political parties have a realistic chance of winning power through elections, and the outcomes of elections at both the national and regional levels are subject to effective competition. Fragmentation is the single biggest obstacle faced by political actors attempting to gain and exercise power.

While voters and candidates are generally able to exercise their political choices without undue influence, businesses regularly seek to bribe or otherwise influence political candidates’ positions.

The concerns of members of ethnic and cultural minority groups remain inadequately addressed in politics.

In 2020, Congress passed a law requiring moves toward full gender parity on party lists. Women hold 38.5 percent of Congress’s seats as of December 2023. Following her inauguration in December 2022, Dina Boluarte became Peru’s first woman president. Peru’s first openly LGBT+ congressperson, Susel Paredes, was elected in 2021.

Elected leaders and representatives are the key agents in creating and implementing policy. However, businesses and special interest groups influence officials through bribes and other illicit payments. Several former presidents and longtime opposition leader Keiko Fujimori have all been accused of accepting illegal funds.

Clashes between the executive and legislative branches have been common occurrences. Castillo was unable to effectively implement policies or maintain a stable government during his presidency. Castillo also faced repeated impeachment attempts and confidence votes by the legislature before he was removed in December 2022. Boluarte has cooperated with a right-wing coalition in the legislature to govern after being appointed, though Congress rejected Boluarte’s proposal to move elections up to December 2023.

Despite some efforts by law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute corruption allegations, government corruption remains a critical problem in Peru. Recent years have seen scandals involving allegations of illicit deals between the Brazilian firm Odebrecht and a number of the country’s most senior political figures. Former president Castillo was the subject of several corruption allegations while in office.

Under the Boluarte administration, authorities’ capacity to investigate and sanction corruption deteriorated, though investigations did continue in 2023. In March, prosecutors announced they were investigating both Castillo and Boluarte on suspicion of money laundering in relation to the 2021 election. In separate moves in September and October 2023, Attorney General Benavides removed prosecutors investigating Odebrecht and a suspected network of corruption in the judiciary and other public bodies. In November, Benavides also dismissed a prosecutor investigating her alleged influence-peddling activity. In December, the JNJ suspended Benavides for six months pending an investigation into that activity, with Juan Carlos Villena succeeding her on an interim basis.

In a controversial move viewed as an attempt to obstruct investigations into corruption by elected officeholders, Congress voted in June 2023 to limit prosecutors’ ability to strike plea deals with suspects. The new law restricts the amount of time prosecutors can take to establish contact with suspects, negotiate a plea bargain, and secure a judge’s approval. The bill earned final approval in December but did not take effect by year’s end.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 due to widespread efforts by government officials to prevent or evade investigations into corruption allegations, including arbitrary removals of lead prosecutors in high-profile cases.

Some government agencies have made progress on transparency, but much information related to defense and security policies remains classified under a 2012 law. Observers noted an overall decline in transparency during the Castillo administration, which continued under Boluarte.

Peru’s dynamic press is mostly privately owned, and ownership is highly concentrated. Defamation is criminalized, and journalists are regularly convicted under such charges, though their sentences are usually suspended.

De facto restrictions on press freedom, and threats and violence against journalists in particular, were common in 2023. In January, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) reported that 29 journalists were violently attacked during the antigovernment protests that began in December 2022, with 11 saying they were attacked by police. RSF reported that nine Peruvian journalists were attacked or arbitrarily arrested by police while covering three anti-Boluarte protests held in Lima in July. The National Association of Journalists recorded 352 incidents where journalists were threatened or physically attacked, including 3 cases of attempted homicide, against journalists in 2023.

In March 2023, the Ministry of the Interior proposed that the National Police should be responsible for protecting journalists under a new protocol, with the Press and Society Institute criticizing the shift. The Office of the Ombudsman said that the ministry’s new protocol would provide insufficient protection to journalists and would not protect them against threats from security forces.

In 2023, a far-right activist group that backs Keiko Fujimori and is tied to retired military officers, The Resistance, harassed, stalked, and issued death threats to members of an investigative journalism outfit, IDL-Reporteros. The Resistance staged several violent attacks outside the organization’s headquarters in Lima.

The constitution guarantees freedom of religion and belief, which is generally respected.

Academic freedom is generally unrestricted. However, in 2022, Congress passed legislation giving publicly registered parental organizations “supervisory and veto powers” over educational materials for preschool through secondary schools. Human rights organizations expressed concern that the law may be used to restrict information along politicized lines.

People are generally free to engage in private discussion without fear of retribution or surveillance.

Authorities had generally recognized the right to assemble, though local disputes and protests sometimes resulted in excessive use of force on the part of the authorities. In December 2022, tens of thousands of protesters held nationwide pro-Castillo demonstrations after his ouster, many of which turned violent. The Boluarte administration deployed the military and implemented a state of emergency in response, limiting assembly rights and granting “special powers” to security forces. Violent tactics were deployed both by protesters, who burned buildings and blockaded transportation links, and by security forces, who used excessive force and arbitrarily detained protesters.

Violence related to the change in administration continued in 2023, further eroding assembly rights in practice. Fifty people were killed in the crackdown on protests between December 2022 and March 2023, with Amnesty International concluding that at least 20 were extrajudicially executed. On January 9, 18 people were killed during clashes with security forces in the southern town of Juliaca. Government officials later placed blame on protesters for the deaths in Juliaca, with Prime Minister Alberto Otárola claiming individuals sought to “carry out a coup d’état.” In a May report, Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded that security forces were indiscriminate in their response there, contradicting official accounts.

Also in January 2023, police stormed the University of San Marcos in Lima, where they questioned and detained students, raided dormitories, and fired tear gas. Lawyers and staff members of the Office of the Ombudsman were prevented from entering the university.

The violence of early 2023 contributed to a decrease in protest activity later in the year. Demonstrations resumed in July, triggering a police response that was less violent, but authorities still used tear gas and heavy-handed tactics to disperse protesters. Peruvians continued to organize smaller protests against Congress and President Boluarte, though the presence of heavily armed riot police has deterred some from taking part.

Score Change: The score declined from 2 to 1 because security forces used excessive and lethal force in response to antigovernment protests, killing dozens of protesters and deterring others from engaging in protest activity.

Freedom of association is generally respected. However, efforts by environmental activists to discourage land development have been met with intimidation.

Peruvian law recognizes the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. Strikes are legal with advance notification to the Ministry of Labor, but few strikers abide by this regulation. Lengthy processes involved in registering a new union create a window in which labor leaders and activists can be easily dismissed from their jobs. Short-term contracts in many industries make unionization difficult. Less than 10 percent of the formal workforce is unionized.

The judiciary has been perceived as one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. In 2018, Congress approved a reform leading to the creation of the JNJ in charge of selecting, evaluating, and disciplining judges. The establishment of the JNJ was widely praised by civil society organizations as well as academia. However, in November 2023, the UN rapporteur on judicial independence criticized Congress for trying to remove some of the JNJ’s members in manner that would harm its independence.

In 2022, Congress replaced six of the TC’s seven members in a nontransparent process. Some of its subsequent rulings were met with scrutiny; that April, for example, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) criticized the TC’s ruling that Indigenous communities did not have a fundamental right to be consulted ahead of a mining project. In February 2023, the TC issued a wide-ranging ruling that effectively weakened judicial review and gave more effective power to Congress.

Constitutional guarantees of due process are unevenly upheld. Lawyers provided to indigent defendants are often poorly trained, and translation services are rarely provided for defendants who do not speak Spanish. Impunity for violence against environmental activists who challenge land development remains a problem.

Lengthy pretrial detention is common. After his December 2022 arrest, former president Castillo was sentenced to 18 months’ pretrial detention, which was extended in March 2023 to a period of 36 months.

Attorney General Benavides notably dismissed prosecutors investigating judicial corruption in 2023. In November, the JNJ began disciplinary proceedings against Benavides over concerns that she had peddled her influence with legislators. The JNJ suspended Benavides in December. Villena, the interim attorney general, said he would bolster a team investigating a network of official corruption within the judiciary.

In December 2023, the TC—defying a ruling by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—reinstated a presidential pardon, releasing former president Alberto Fujimori from prison. Fujimori had only partially completed a 25-year sentence for authorizing extrajudicial killings.

While Peru’s murder rate is lower than many of its regional peers, violent criminal organizations operate in the narcotics and illegal mining industries, and street crime is rampant. A report published in August 2023 by the National Statistics Institute (INEI) noted that 26.9 percent of Peruvians aged 15 and over in urban areas were the victims of crime in the first six months of the year, an increase over figures from 2021 and 2022. The National Death Registry (SINADEF) recorded 1,105 murders in 2023, 412 fewer than in 2022.

In 2023, there was an uptick in contract killings in several outlying districts of metropolitan Lima. In September, President Boluarte declared a state of emergency affecting three districts in the metropolitan area, relaxing constraints on the police.

Abuses committed by the security forces are rarely punished. In 2020, Congress passed a law that international rights groups criticized as generating additional barriers to police accountability.

Discrimination against Indigenous populations and Afro-Peruvians is pervasive. LGBT+ people face discrimination, hostility, and violence. Government officials are known to espouse anti-LGBT+ rhetoric; before being appointed ombudsman in May 2023, Josué Manuel Gutiérrez Cóndor called homosexuality “a deformity” when being questioned by members of Congress.

Peru has received a large number of migrants from Venezuela in recent years, with 1.5 million Venezuelans residing in Peru as of May 2023. While the country was initially welcoming, public opinion shifted against tolerance, and a 2019 report by the Ministry of the Interior found that more than half of the Venezuelans residing in Peru have felt or experienced discrimination. Peruvian authorities approve very few requests for asylum. The Boluarte administration vowed to remove undocumented Venezuelans by November 2023 and later said that hundreds voluntarily left after the deadline.

Indigenous Peruvians were especially affected by the authorities’ response to antigovernment protests in 2023. The January 9 deaths in the town of Juliaca, for example, occurred in Puno, a department with a large Indigenous population. Overall, a disproportionate number of deaths and injuries of protesters occurred in Indigenous- and Afro Peruvian–majority departments. In mid-January, the IACHR’s rapporteur for Peru said there was a “strong stigmatization on the basis of ethnic, racial and regional factors” and that government officials used hostile language when discussing Indigenous protesters, sometimes calling them “indians” or “terrorists.” In a speech delivered that same month, President Boluarte said that “Puno is not Peru” when referring to the department.

Peruvian authorities do not place formal restrictions on movement. However, the use of road blockages as a protest tactic continued during the December 2022–March 2023 protests, which saw demonstrators block over 100 roads. For several days in mid-January, authorities closed Cusco’s international airport, citing safety concerns. Some public transport was also affected. Domestic movement was additionally impeded by states of emergency imposed throughout the year. Restrictions on movement eased in the second half of 2023, although highways were blocked by protesters in July.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because protests held during the year frequently blocked roads, caused the temporary closure of Cusco’s international airport, and repeatedly triggered states of emergency covering highways and cities across Peru, limiting people’s ability to travel freely.

The rights to own property and establish business are mostly respected, though tensions persist between extractive industries and Indigenous communities who demand inclusion in land use policy decisions.

Gender-based violence is widespread in Peru, with more than half of Peruvian women reporting instances of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations reported 165 femicides occurred in 2023.

Proposals to recognize civil unions for same-sex partners have been repeatedly introduced and rejected in Congress. Abortion is permitted only in instances where a woman’s health is in danger. In November 2023, Congress gave its final approval of a bill stating that life begins at conception and giving legal entity to fetuses. In April, the Office of the Ombudsman expressed concern that the bill would further limit access to abortion.

The large share of Peruvians working in the informal sector leads to widespread economic precarity. Peruvian women and girls, especially from the Indigenous community, are vulnerable to sex trafficking. In the 2023 edition of its Trafficking in Persons Report, the US State Department noted that the Peruvian government was making efforts to address trafficking but that funding for antitrafficking programs and convictions were low.