President of Peru

The president of Peru (Spanish: Presidente del Perú), officially the constitutional president of the Republic of Peru (Spanish: presidente constitucional de la República del Perú), is the head of state and head of government of Peru. The president is the head of the executive branch and is the supreme head of the Armed Forces and National Police of Peru. The office of president corresponds to the highest magistracy in the country, making the president the highest-ranking public official in Peru.
Due to broadly interpreted impeachment wording in the 1993 Constitution of Peru, the Congress of Peru can impeach the president without cause, effectively making the executive branch subject to the legislature.
The president is elected to direct the general policy of the government, work with the Congress of the Republic and the Council of Ministers to enact reform, and be an administrator of the state, enforcing the constitution, which establishes the presidential requirements, rights, and obligations. The executive branch is located at the Palacio de Gobierno, located in the historic center of Lima. The building has been used and occupied by the heads of state of Peru, dating back to Francisco Pizarro and the viceroys of Peru.
The current president is Dina Boluarte, who succeeded Pedro Castillo on 7 December 2022.
Ordinarily, the president is elected to a five-year term, and is barred from immediate reelection. A former president can run again after being out of office for a full term. The change of government takes place on 28 July, which is the date of independence from Spain and thus a national holiday.
The Congress of the Republic has the power to end a president's term prematurely through impeachment. Under Article 113 of the Constitution of 1993, the president can be removed due to death, "permanent moral or physical disability" determined by Congress, resignation, fleeing national territory without permission from Congress, or dismissal for committing infractions outlined in Article 117 of the Constitution.
Four presidents of Peru have attempted to resign: Guillermo Billinghurst (forced resignation), Andrés Avelino Cáceres, Alberto Fujimori, and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Three presidents have been impeached unsuccessfully, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Martín Vizcarra (first impeachment), and Pedro Castillo (first and second impeachments) while the impeachments of Billinghurst, Fujimori, Vizcarra (second impeachment), and Castillo (third impeachment) have been successful.
The president is elected to a term of five years without immediate re-election. A presidential inauguration is held every five years on 28 July in Congress. The last directly elected president was Pedro Castillo, who was elected for a term from 2021 to 2026. His Vice President, Dina Boluarte, a former civil servant, succeeded him as president following his impeachment after a failed coup attempt.
There have also been a number of unrecognized presidents. In 1992 and 2019, after the dissolution of the Congress, the legislative body unsuccessfully removed the president from office and swore in vice presidents as the de facto president.
There are 14 presidents that became presidents through a coup d'état. The last successful coup d'état was carried out by Alberto Fujimori in 1992, who was later imprisoned for human rights violations and corruption.
Presidential inaugurations take place in the Congress of the Republic of Peru in the capital city of Lima. Presidential inaugurations always take place on 28 July of its respective year, although in the case of constitutional succession, an inauguration is on the day that the presidential successor arrives in Lima, Peru. The presidential inauguration precedes the National Parade of the Military of Peru.
Foreign dignitaries have often assisted the democratic transition of power in Peru.
The contemporary placed presidential oath in Spanish is as follows:
The English translation is as follows:
The president of Congress conventionally holds the presidential sash before the president-elect takes the oath of office. Once the president-elect has taken the oath of office, the president is recognized by all branches of the government of Peru as the democratic president of the Republic of Peru, symbolized by the president of the Congress passing the presidential sash. The nominee is recognized as the president of Peru with and only with the presidential sash.
As of 2019, there have been two illegitimate presidential inaugurations performed by the Congress of Peru, but not recognized by either the executive branch or the armed forces: one in 1995 and the inauguration of Mercedes Aráoz in 2019 amidst a confrontation between the executive and legislative powers of Peru.
There is also an emphasis on Christianity and the Roman Catholic Church in the oath of office. All presidents of Peru have been Catholic and have taken the oath of office alongside the Christian Bible, and in front of a Catholic Crucifix.
The first state recognizable as such under current concepts in the central Andes was the Wari civilization, whose system of government has not yet been fully unraveled. Later, between the thirteenth century and the sixteenth century, the Inca civilization developed, whose State, based on the political management of reciprocity and alien to all European conceptions of then and now, had the Sapa Inca at its head.
The modern Peruvian state is the heir of the Viceroyalty of Peru. In 1532, the Spanish conquerors arrived in the territory, imposed their dominion and managed to establish a Spanish dependency. This dependence began as governorships corresponding to the conquerors, with the title of Governor. The Governorate of the New Toledo (Diego de Almagro) – which otherwise never consolidated – had as its capital the city of Cusco, the current historical capital of Peru. The Governorate of the New Castile (Francisco Pizarro) had as its capital the City of Kings, as Lima was also called initially and it was on this that the viceroyalty was instituted after the civil wars.
In 1542, the Viceroyalty of Peru was established, whose government was held by the representative of the king of Spain (head of state) with the title of Viceroy of Peru (head of government). The true organizer of the viceregal state was Francisco de Toledo.
This period had only two stages corresponding to the two Spanish dynasties, the houses of Habsburg and Bourbon, and lasted 282 years from its establishment in 1542 to the Capitulation of Ayacucho in 1824, despite the independence of Peru in 1821.
José Fernando de Abascal was in charge of centralizing Spanish political and military power in Peru. His successors, the last viceroys of Peru were parallel to Jose de San Martin and his first successors. Joaquín de la Pezuela and José de la Serna faced the liberating armies and the last of them signed the capitulation. Finally, Pío Tristán was the interim viceroy in charge of transferring power to the patriots.
In July 1821, during the Peruvian War of Independence, the autonomous states lying in the viceroyalty of Peru declared themselves as independent and sovereign from influence and mediation from the Spanish Empire. Recognizing the impending threat of Spanish backlash to regain their lost colonies, the autonomous viceroyalty began to draft a constitution on which they would decide to base the sovereign nation. Working closely with the Constituent Congress of Peru in 1822, a formal constitution was created, named the Constitution of 1823. Francisco Xavier de Luna Pizarro, a Peruvian politician, presided and led the Constituent Congress of Peru, leading to him being subjectively regarded as the first informal President of Peru.
The first articles of the 1823 Constitution consisted of 24 items, known as the "Bases". These bases formally defined the borders of the Andean nation and formally created the First Republic of Peru, which still holds until the present day. The governing board, led by Luna Pizarro, declared Peruvian autonomy from Spain and a Catholic state. Additionally, the Constitution defined the three powers of the government, the executive, judicial and the legislative power. The governing board, a colloquial terminology that was used to classify the ten politicians that devised these 24 items, was the first representation of executive power and the executive branch in Peruvian history.
Later, issues arose around the bases which granted the protectorate of Peru, Simon Bolivar, overwhelming power over the legislative and executive organs of the Peruvian government. At the same time, Bolivar was already undergoing a campaign to establish a dictatorship around Andean Latin American nations. As a precursor, this incentivized the initial drafters of the constitution and the Governing Board to accelerate the process of defining reasonable executive powers, balance the three branches of power, and begin to draft an idea for the roles and powers of the official position of state leader of Peru.
The Act of Independence was signed in Lima on 15 August 1821, and soon after the government was left under the charge of José de San Martín with the title of Protector. Later, the legislative branch occupied the executive branch. In 1823 the Congress appointed José de la Riva Agüero as the first President of the Republic of the history of Peru. Since then, that has been the main denomination that has held the great majority of the rulers of Peru. The same first Political Constitution of 1823 (after the appointment of Riva Agüero) recognizes the position, and says ex officio: "Article 72. Resides exclusively the exercise of executive power in a citizen with the name of President of the Republic."
Only two constitutions have been contrary, partially, to the presidential republican system, the Lifetime Political Constitution of 1826 emanating from Simón Bolívar and expressing:
By 1827, an outline of an executive along with the executive branch had been drawn out to prevent a Bolivarian dictatorship which would be seen by the populace as a general return to Spanish tyrannical rule. As a result, on 28 July 1827, Manuel Salazar assumed the formal office of the presidency and became the first president of Peru to be elected by the populace, marking the start of the Presidency of Peru.
The President is head of the general administration of the Republic, and their authority extends both to the preservation of public order internally, and to external security in accordance with the Constitution and laws.
The duties exclusive to the President have been defined in the 1823 Constitution as:
The powers of the President of the Republic are:
The powers of the President of the Republic are:
The President of the Republic, in addition to the Head of State, is the Head of the national Government. Its functions are explicit in the Constitution and the Organic Law of the Executive Power.
The acts of the President of the Republic that lack ministerial endorsement are null. It corresponds to the President of the Republic to preside over the Council of Ministers when it is convened or when he attends its sessions. The President of the Republic appoints and removes the President of the council. Appoints and removes the other ministers, on the proposal and with an agreement, respectively, from the President of the council.
The ministers are individually responsible for their own acts and for the presidential acts they endorse. All ministers are jointly and severally liable for criminal acts or violations of the Constitution or the laws that the President of the Republic incurs or that are agreed upon in the council, even if they save their vote unless they resign immediately.
The Constitution of 1993, a product of the Presidency of Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000), is the constitution that is currently in place.
The presidential sash is the most distinctive feature that the President wears and has been used since the beginning of the Republic. It was inherited from the last Viceroys. The placement and delivery of the presidential sash symbolize a democratic transition of power. The band is used by the President of Congress until the new president is sworn in.
It is a bicolor band that carries the national colors (red and white). This band is worn diagonally from the right shoulder to the left side of the waist. At the waist, like a brooch, the band was embroidered in golden thread the Coat of arms of Peru. There is a Lima family that has traditionally made them. They are made to measure for each President and have been used normally with formal suit: suit, tuxedo or military uniform. Since 2006, the Shield was moved up to chest height.
A symbolic act narrated by Ricardo Palma in his famous Peruvian Traditions was made during the confused first half of the 1840s, by President Justo Figuerola. This, in front of the protests made by the pope in front of his home, he asked his daughter to take the presidential band out of the dresser drawer and give it to the people from the balcony. The crowd left happy and alive to Figuerola and went to find someone to impose the garment, which, so many times coveted, this time did not find who wanted to stick it.
The Ministers of State wear a red-and-white sash; Supreme Members, Congressmen of the Republic, Magistrates of the Constitutional Court, Members of the National Council of the Magistracy, Supreme Prosecutors, the Ombudsman, etc., wear red-and-white collars with medals that recognize them as such.
The necklace is the symbol of the highest authority in the country. It is composed of gold and encrusted with diamonds, bearing at the center a medal that contains the coat of arms of Peru. Presidents Oscar R. Benavides Larrea, Manuel Prado y Ugarteche and Jose Luis Bustamante y Rivero notably used the large necklace and other insignias. Its use disappeared after the administration of Fernando Belaúnde Terry. Recently its use was 'revived' by Alan García Pérez in the European Union Summit held precisely in Lima in May 2008.
The President of the Republic carries a plaque in the left upper pocket of the bag in the manner of a lanyard with the insignia of the military command that recognizes them as the Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces. It is the heir of the distinctive and military honors worn by presidents belonging to the Armed Forces throughout the history of the country. It is golden and has the shape of a radiant sun.
The staff originates from the Spanish custom of symbolizing power with a cane. The custom was introduced in the eighteenth century in the Andes, after the rebellion of José Gabriel Túpac Amaru and Túpac Catari in 1780 to represent the dignity of mayor of Incas. Unlike Argentina, the use of a cane that symbolizes the power and office of President (symbolically, varayoc), has not been common in the history of the Peruvian presidency and has been replaced innumerable times by the saber or the sword of the military presidents. There is only a handful of remarkable cases. Mariano Ignacio Prado, José Balta and Augusto B. Leguía used it in pictures and presidential photographs. Recently, Alejandro Toledo, made use of the cane in his symbolic assumption to the charge in Cusco and also on a few other occasions. Its most recent use corresponds to 29 July 2008, the date of the traditional military parade, when Alan García carried a small presidential staff, the same one used by Ollanta Humala in the military parade on 29 July 2011.
The Constitution of 1823, the first constitution of this country, indicates that to be the President of Peru one must:
The Constitution of 1826, on the other hand, incorporating some subjective concepts, requires the following:
The Constitution of 1856 states the requirements to be president: be Peruvian by birth, citizen in office and thirty-five years of age and ten of domicile in the Republic, which will remain virtually unchanged until today. As of 1979, the requirement of having resided in the country for the last ten years is eliminated.
According to the Organic Law of Elections, they cannot run for the Presidency or Vice Presidencies of the Republic:
During its more than 190 years of independence, Peru has been ruled by the military leaders who fought for independence, the leaders of the War of the Pacific, representatives of the aristocracy, and democratically elected leaders. Also, the history of the presidency has involved civil wars, coups and violence. More than once, several individuals claimed the right to be president at the same time.
Different titles have been used, such as "Protector of Peru" (used by José de San Martín), and "Supreme Protector" (by Andrés de Santa Cruz).
All former elected presidents of Peru since 1985 have been prosecuted since leaving office:
In contemporary history, two presidents are known not to have been of direct Peruvian descent, being Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016–2018). Fujimori is of Japanese descent and Kuczynski is of German, Jewish, French and Polish descent. A majority of presidents have been born in Lima.
Three presidents have been assassinated in Peru's history—Felipe Santiago Salaverry, Tomás Gutiérrez, and Luis Miguel Sánchez Cerro. One president, Alan García (1985–1990, 2006–2011), committed suicide.
The tallest recorded president is Alan García, who stood at 1.93 m. The shortest is Alejandro Toledo (2001–2006), who stands at 1.65 m. The oldest person to assume the presidency was Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016–2018) who assumed the presidency at 78 years and 217 days, with the second being Fernando Belaunde Terry (1963–1968, 1980–1985) who assumed his second presidency at 78 years and 39 days.
The president who has reached the longest life span is Francisco Morales Bermúdez (1975–1980), who lived to be 100. Three Peruvian presidents lived into their nineties:
Names of incumbents as of 2024: