Peruvian Presidential Candidates Will Be Given Bulletproof Vests After Armed Attacks

Peru Presidential Palace, Lima. (Wikimedia Commons/-Chupacabras-)

JAKARTA - The Peruvian Election Authority will provide guided vests for presidential candidates ahead of the April election, following a series of attacks on politicians in the country.

President of the Peru National Election Jury Roberto Burneo announced the move this week, expressing fears the 2026 election will be tougher than the 2021 campaign, when about 50 violent events were recorded.

"What we want is to prevent and identify risks," he told reporters.

"Any effort must be made, even if it means carrying out extreme measures by wearingamployed vests," he said.

Furthermore, he said, Election officers would also get personal protective equipment. It is not clear whether candidates for lower positions will also receive guided vests.

The announcement follows the shooting of a vehicle used by potential Libertad Party presidential candidate Popular Rafael Belaunde in Lima on Tuesday.

Burneo said he asked the government on Tuesday to speed up election security protocols following the attack on Belaunde.

Belaunde himself told reporters on Wednesday he thought the attack was more of a street crime than a political motif.

When the shooting occurred, Belaunde said he was taking care of personal matters and was not campaigning.

"We cannot normalize violence," he said.

Previously, a legislative candidate from the left-wing party Juntos por el Peru45 Ipanaque was shot dead on Friday by a suspected hitman in northern Peru.

It is known that Peru will hold elections on April 12. In addition to choosing the president and vice president, the Peruvian people will also have 190 MPs in the two-room national legislative body.

Around 39 parties or coalitions of politics are expected to nominate candidates until December 23, up from 18 in 2021.

According to the Ipsos Peru poll on Sunday, no current presidential candidate will get more than 10 percent support, and the second round is expected to be held on June 7.

Peru has a volatile political landscape with seven presidents in the same period, some of whom are behind bars.

The current president, Jose Jeri, who replaced Dina Bouarte, who was very unpopular in October, set a state of emergency shortly after taking office in an attempt to quell insecurity, which voters say to survey institutes is their biggest concern.