Peru: Election Board Suspends Member Over Conflict of Interests

In Peru, the National Jury of Elections (JNE) resolved to suspend the incumbent member from the plenary of the electoral body, Luis Carlos Arce Cordova, for presenting a conflict of interest in favor of the right-wing Fuerza Popular party of candidate Keiko Fujimori.

Through a communiqué, the JNE expressed its rejection of the offensive expressions made by Arce in his letter on June 23, since, according to the JNE, "they attack the honor and good reputation of the members of the JNE Plenary, the electoral system, high authorities and servants of the country."

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This Wednesday, June 23rd, Arce requested his irrevocable declination as representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office before the plenary of the JNE under the basis of avoiding his "minority votes being used to validate false constitutional deliberations that are in reality decisions with clear political bias."

On June 15, the association Democratic Lawyers of Peru presented a recusal before the JNE against Luis Arce Córdova based on an alleged "conflict of interest, lack of transparency and bias" in favor of Fuerza Popular, a political party led by presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori, who insists that the elections were fraudulent.

The request "orders the recused magistrate to abstain from hearing any electoral administrative procedure in which the Peru Libre group is a party" and was presented on Saturday, June 12, to the president of the JNE.

"Without prejudice to the recusal formulated, we request that the challenged magistrate be inhibited, to abstain out of decorum, so that there are no doubts about his independence, transparency, and impartiality in the present electoral process," continues the text reviewed in local media.

"#Urgent: By Resolution No. 66-2021-P/JNE, the President of the JNE resolved to suspend Mr. Luis Carlos Arce Córdova from his position as Regular Member of the Plenary of the JNE, to convene the corresponding provisional representative."

Another element for Arce's recusal is the "conflict of interest" of being linked to Los Cuellos Blancos del Puerto, a criminal organization led by former Supreme Court Justice César Hinostroza, who allegedly helped Fujimori with her judicial processes.

"There is sufficient evidence that would lead us to suspect that Judge Luis Carlos Arce Córdova would not be impartial in the administration of administrative justice," the request states.

It also mentions that Arce would have "a questioned and unsuitable conduct" after being included by the First Supreme Criminal Prosecutor's Office for the alleged crime of illicit enrichment, in addition to the investigation of the national board of justice for Los Cuellos Blancos (The White Collars).

Arce decided after the rejection of the JNE to the nullity appeals. He argued that it was not an entity to verify the alleged false signatures nor that they could request the lists of voters since they were private documents; this depended on other processes.

For its part, the JNE decided to make a legal evaluation of the document presented by the magistrate. "In view of the document of irrevocable declination presented tonight by Mr. Luis Arce Córdova, the JNE has initiated a legal evaluation of the same, which allows taking immediate measures to safeguard democracy and to avoid affecting the culmination of the electoral process," the entity published.