Presidential debate in Peru kicks off with 35 candidates and delay of favorite Rafael López Aliaga

Lima.-The debate of the Peruvian presidential elections brings together from this Monday the 35 presidential candidates in contention to discuss their proposals over fifteen hours that will be distributed in six days with the aim of accommodating all participants. In three groups of between 11 and 12, the 35 candidates will parade across the debate stage on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of this week to discuss security and the fight against corruption, while the following week they will return on the same days to talk about employment, education, and innovation, in sessions of two and a half hours each. The composition of the groups was decided by drawing lots, so that the candidates will coincide with different rivals in each of their appearances.

The Presidential Candidate in First Place is Late

The candidate for the Presidency of Peru, Rafael López Aliaga, who appears in first place in voting intention in most polls published so far, arrived late this Monday to the electoral debate, which began more than ten minutes after the scheduled time due to this delay, still without him in his place.

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The former mayor of Lima, now a presidential candidate for the ultraconservative Renovación Popular party that he himself leads, left his home less than half an hour before the start of the debate, according to various local media that followed his journey to the Lima Convention Center. López Aliaga's delay led to the rest of the participants in the first of the six sessions of the electoral debate taking the family photo at the beginning of the event without the presence of the candidate, who appeared when the moderators were beginning to welcome the audience.

The Presidential Debate in Peru with 35 Candidates

The crowd of supporters who arrived at the surroundings of the debate headquarters to support their candidates made López Aliaga's arrival even more complicated. The Peruvian presidential debate will host the 35 candidates in the running and will last a total of fifteen hours, spread over six days, with sessions of two and a half hours each, where there will be groups of between eleven and twelve participants. In the first session of this Monday, there are eleven candidates, following the death last week of Napoleon Becerra, from the Workers and Entrepreneurs Party (PTE), who lost his life in a work accident while traveling through the south of the Peruvian Andes to continue his electoral campaign. In addition to López Aliaga, it will also be the turn this Monday of the center-left candidate Alfonso López Chau (Ahora Nación), who in the latest Datum poll appears in third place with 6.5%, as well as comedian Carlos Álvarez (País Para Todos), who with a right-wing political proposal is fourth in the polls with 5%.

The Participants

Completing the list of participants this Monday are former Minister of Justice Marisol Pérez Tello (Primero La Gente), university owners and businessman José Luna (Podemos Perú) and César Acuña (Alianza Para el Progreso). Also part of the lineup for this debate evening are former congressmen Yonhy Lescano (Popular Cooperation) and Fernando Olivera (Hope Front), retired military personnel Wolfgang Grozo (Democratic Integrity) and José Williams (Avanza País), and Álex Gonzáles (Green Democrat), former mayor of the Lima district of San Juan de Lurigancho, the municipality with the largest population in Peru. Also The candidates arrived at the Lima Convention Center, venue of the debate, surrounded by numerous groups of supporters dressed in flags and t-shirts with the color of their respective parties, as well as their identifying symbols. Álvarez even starred in a small artistic performance upon arrival, accompanied by people dressed as prisoners with different ills afflicting the country, while Williams' supporters provided dancing humanoid robots, which enlivened the expected arrival of the candidates.