López Aliaga Claims 50,000 Lead in Lima Vote

López Aliaga, then mayor of Lima (right), poses with Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, who holds the key to the city he received at a ceremony in Lima on Thursday 4 July 2024. The photo dates from his time as mayor, not from this campaign. Photo: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

PERU · ELECTIONS

Rafael López Aliaga, the conservative former mayor of Lima, says his own recount of the vote-tally sheets gives him a lead of about 50,000 votes in the race to run Peru’s capital again, Panamericana television reported on Monday 19 October 2026. He called the changes in the official results suspicious, and the count by ONPE, the national electoral office, is not finished.

Lima is Peru’s capital and business hub, so its city hall matters to US companies, investors and travellers. The race is also a test of Peru’s electoral bodies, because López Aliaga is questioning ONPE while the Constitution bars mayors from immediate re-election.

Our earlier report on the 95.4% count has the figures to Saturday 17 October. This article adds his new claim, the dispute over whether he may take office, and the steps the electoral bodies have set out.

What López Aliaga Says

In the interview, López Aliaga said his team reviewed 100% of the tally sheets and found an advantage of about 50,000 votes, Panamericana reported. He added that he has complaints pending against ONPE and will explain his objections once the process ends.

On Sunday 18 October he declared himself the winner at a rally in Puente Piedra, a district in northern Lima, and called ONPE “corrupt” while admitting that about 4% of the sheets were still uncounted, Infobae reported. “I already counted to the end and we have won,” he said.

On Monday 5 October he said “I do not trust ONPE” and called it a “criminal group”, and Infobae reported on 6 October that he gave no evidence for the accusation. His rival Francis Allison said he was not alleging irregularities, La Razón reported on 6 October.

López Aliaga, wearing the city’s medal as mayor, shakes hands with Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa at a ceremony in Lima on Thursday 4 July 2024. The photo dates from his time as mayor, not from this campaign. Photo: Presidencia de la República del Ecuador, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

What He Says He Would Do as Mayor

Panamericana’s account, the only report of the interview we found, says López Aliaga warned that the coming El Niño, a warming of Pacific waters that brings heavy rain to Peru, could cause water and food shortages and health emergencies in Lima. He urged Congress to give the government the tools to respond, and proposed geogrids, a mesh used to hold slopes, in vulnerable areas and a logistics centre with food and medicine in Chosica, a district on Lima’s eastern edge.

He also called for stronger police intelligence and tougher court penalties against extortion and contract killing, and proposed new metropolitan bus corridors on the Panamericana Norte highway, Universitaria Avenue and the Vía Expresa Sur. If he takes office, he said, he would ask for more city powers over education and health to run programmes for school meals, satellite internet and tablets for students, which are campaign promises, not decisions.

Where the Official Count Stands

ONPE’s count stood at about 95.4% of Lima’s 26,351 tally sheets when Infobae reported on Sunday 18 October, with Renovación Popular on 27.776% of valid votes and Avanza País on 26.822%. That is a gap of 0.954 percentage points, our subtraction of the two published shares.

At 95.165% counted on 17 October the totals were 1,485,510 votes for Renovación Popular and 1,434,867 for Avanza País, which our subtraction puts 50,643 votes apart (La Noticia printed 50,634). His claim of about 50,000 is therefore close to the official gap, so it does not by itself point to a different winner.

ONPE finished processing all 89,935 polling-station sheets nationwide on Saturday 10 October, and the sheets still uncounted are those with an observation or a challenge. By our own estimate the roughly 1,200 Lima sheets at the juries hold about 250,000 valid votes if they look like the rest, so Allison would need to win them by about 20 percentage points to overtake the lead.

The special electoral juries, known as JEE, compare copies of each sheet and order a recount when needed, and their rulings can be appealed to the national electoral court, the JNE, whose plenary decides last, ONPE explained on 12 October. ONPE adds the votes of each sheet once its ruling is final, and JNE president Roberto Burneo has said results should be official by the first week of November at the latest, with 28 October the deadline for recounts, Gestión reported.

Nationwide, the juries had received 7,234 files from observed sheets by midday on 16 October, had taken up 89.59% of them and had ordered recounts in 919, the JNE said. On Monday ONPE added that it keeps the ballots under strict security, with biometric access control, so juries can recount, and that they stay in custody until results are proclaimed and are then destroyed.

Who López Aliaga Is and Why His Eligibility Is Disputed

López Aliaga is a businessman and the president of Renovación Popular, the conservative party he leads, and he was elected mayor of Lima in 2022 for the 2023 to 2026 term. He resigned in October 2025 to run for president, finished third in the first round, according to El Comercio, and was elected senator.

The JNE proclaimed him senator-elect, then set that credential aside in July in Resolution 1757-2026-JNE after he declined to be sworn in, and called Absalón Vásquez, the next candidate on his party’s list, to take the seat. A majority held that an elected senator who never took the oath had not yet entered office, and magistrate Gunther Gonzales Barrón dissented, Caretas reported.

In a separate ruling reported on 21 July, the JNE overturned a Lima jury’s refusal to register him as a candidate for deputy mayor on the list headed by the physician Luis Rubio, El Comercio reported. Rubio later withdrew as the list’s mayoral candidate, which left López Aliaga as first councillor and, Infobae reported, the person who would take the mayor’s post if the list wins.

Article 194 of the Constitution, as amended in 2015, says “there is no immediate re-election for mayors”, and critics call his route a “hidden re-election”. López Aliaga answers that he is running for councillor, not mayor, and Infobae reports that about 130 mayors nationwide used a similar route.

Burneo said on 3 October that the court had held that running as first councillor is not prohibited, and that handing over the mayor’s credential had not been a disputed point in the cases it had resolved, Infobae reported. Allison has questioned why the JNE let López Aliaga run while a senator-elect, Infobae reported on 14 October.

Challenges Before the Electoral Juries

Avanza País, the party that fielded Allison, the mayor of the Lima district of Magdalena del Mar, asked the JNE to order a Lima runoff if no list reaches 30% of valid votes, La República reported on 12 October. Allison said the party filed the request without asking him and that he is not pushing it, though he called its legal argument valid, Infobae reported on 14 October.

The Peruvian Aprista Party, a long-established party, asked the Lima electoral jury to annul the Lima election and call new complementary elections, arguing that voters could not be sure which office he was really running for, because he was registered as first councillor but presented as a mayoral option, Infobae reported on 9 October. In the sources we opened we found no ruling on either request.

Allison said on 14 October that contesting 500 tally sheets would cost about 250,000 soles (about US$72,700 at 3.4397 soles per US dollar, our rate at the Friday 16 October close), money he does not have. He asked the electoral bodies for a clean review of the sheets instead, Infobae reported.

What It Means for You

For visitors nothing changes in Lima before the new city term, which runs from 2027 to 2030, and services continue under the current mayor, Renzo Reggiardo. Our Lima expat city guide covers neighbourhoods, transport and safety, and our Peru news in English page tracks the count.

US companies with Lima permits, contracts or security plans should expect no clarity until the juries finish and a winner is proclaimed. Investors watching Peru’s stability should read this as a legal dispute with published steps, which are jury rulings, appeals to the JNE plenary and a final decision.

What Prediction Markets Say

Polymarket’s market midpoint gave López Aliaga about an 87% chance of becoming Lima mayor and Allison about 1% at 8:25 p.m. ET on Monday 19 October, which means a price of about 87 cents. The López Aliaga price fell about 3 points over 24 hours.

His contract has traded about US$180,500 and Allison’s about US$156,700, within a Lima mayor market of about US$547,900 in total. These are bets, not polls, and they do not decide who the juries proclaim.

Why we show this: prediction markets turn real-money bets into a live probability that moves within minutes of the news, which is why investors, campaigns and newsrooms in the United States now follow them closely. We show them next to polls and official results, never instead of them.

What Is Not Known

Panamericana’s report does not say how López Aliaga counted the sheets, when the interview was recorded or what evidence he has of irregularities. We found no comment from ONPE on his claim in the sources we opened.

It is also not known when the juries will finish the roughly 1,200 Lima sheets, whether the JNE will hand the mayor’s credential to a first councillor, or whether the Aprista and Avanza País requests will be heard. The latest ONPE count we could confirm is the 18 October figure, because ONPE’s results portal could not be read by our desk.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Rafael López Aliaga?

He is a businessman, the president of the conservative Renovación Popular party and the mayor of Lima from 2023 until he resigned in October 2025 to run for president. He is now first councillor on the party’s Lima list.

Has ONPE confirmed his claim of a 50,000-vote lead?

Not in the sources we opened. ONPE’s count at 95.165% of Lima sheets put his list about 50,600 votes ahead by our subtraction, with roughly 1,200 sheets still with the juries.

When will Lima’s next mayor be known?

The JNE president has said results should be official by the first week of November at the latest, and 28 October is the deadline for recounts. The winner would serve from 2027 to 2030.

Can López Aliaga become mayor again?

The Constitution bars immediate re-election of mayors, and the JNE has held that running as first councillor is not prohibited. It has not yet ruled, in the sources we opened, on handing him the mayor’s credential.

Sources: Panamericana, López Aliaga interview report, 19 October 2026; ONPE press note on ballot custody, 19 October 2026; ONPE press note on counting observed sheets, 12 October 2026; JNE press note on observed sheets, 16 October 2026; Infobae, López Aliaga declares victory, 18 October 2026; Infobae, López Aliaga on ONPE, 6 October 2026; Infobae, JNE and the mayor’s credential, 4 October 2026; Infobae, annulment request, 9 October 2026; Infobae, Allison on challenging sheets, 14 October 2026; La Noticia, count at 95.165%, 17 October 2026; Gestión, Burneo on timetable, 5 October 2026; Gestión, recount deadline, 10 October 2026; La República, Avanza País runoff request, 12 October 2026; Gestión, Allison as mayor of Magdalena, 5 October 2026; La Razón, Allison on irregularities, 6 October 2026; El Comercio, JNE ruling on candidacy, 21 July 2026; Caretas, Resolution 1757-2026-JNE, 21 July 2026; El Peruano, Law 30305 of 10 March 2015, text of Article 194. All retrieved on 19 October 2026. Prediction-market prices: Polymarket public market data, 19 October 2026, 8:25 p.m. ET. FX: our rate of 3.4397 soles per US dollar at the Friday 16 October close.

Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief · Editorial standards · Report an error