"Without a Single Opponent"... Peruvian Mayoral Candidate Defeated by Blank Ballots Despite Running Unopposed

Blank Ballots Account for 60.2%...Candidate Receives Only 27.8% of Votes
Possibility of Election Being Declared Void...New Election to Be Held if Confirmed

An unprecedented incident occurred in Peru where a candidate running unopposed in a mayoral election failed to win due to a large number of blank and invalid ballots.

Ran Unopposed but Only Received 27.8% of the Vote

Romulo Suico Panta, the sole candidate running in the Peru regional elections. Infoba Peru

According to Infobae Peru on October 5 (local time), Romulo Suico Panta ran as the sole candidate in the local government election for the mayor of Larihu district in Caylloma Province, Arequipa Region. In the final tally, Suico Panta received 188 votes, accounting for about 27.8% of the total. On the other hand, there were 407 blank ballots, making up approximately 60.2%, and invalid ballots numbered 81.

The number of blank ballots alone was more than double the votes received by Suico Panta. Although there were no competing candidates, a substantial portion of votes from the electorate were cast as blank or invalid rather than for the candidate himself.

Ran Unopposed in 2022 as Well ... Outnumbered by Blank Ballots that Year, Too

This is not the first time Suico Panta has faced such a result. He also ran as the sole candidate in the 2022 Larihu local government election but managed to secure only 109 votes. Even then, blank ballots amounted to 478 and invalid ballots to 129, both numbers significantly exceeding the candidate's vote count. Running unopposed once again after four years, this year too the number of blank and invalid ballots surpassed the total number of votes the candidate received.

There is also a possibility that the Larihu election could be declared invalid. In Peru, if blank and invalid ballots exceed a certain threshold, the election itself can be rendered void.

In this year's Larihu election, the combined total of blank ballots (407) and invalid ballots (81) reached 488. The National Election Jury (JNE) of Peru will review the election results and decide on their validity. If the election is ultimately declared invalid, a new election may be held.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.