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Georgetown Americas Institute

June 9, 2026

The State of Democracy in Peru

Event Series: Challenges to Democracy: The Latin American Landscape

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Democracy in Latin America, as in the rest of the world, is facing major challenges in political governance, electoral integrity, institutional strength, economic growth, and social cohesion. While it is true that these challenges—which pose threats to democracy worldwide—manifest with varying intensity and emphasis in each country of the region, there are also common elements and similarities that highlight the importance of addressing specific cases from a global, comparative perspective. In this regard, over the course of 25 years, we have moved from a celebration of democracy at the beginning of the twenty-first century—a time when all Latin American countries were living within a framework of constitutional democracy—to a situation of concern regarding the circumstances facing practically every country in the region.

In this context and as a lead up to the third annual conference on the state of democracy in the Americas, jointly organized by the Georgetown Americas Institute and FORMA, a virtual series of discussions titled Democracy in Latin America will be held from May to September 2026, coordinated by Professor Lorenzo Córdova Vianello, a GAI resident fellow. In each of the biweekly sessions, Professor Córdova will speak with experts from a dozen Latin American countries to analyze the state of democracy and the specific challenges each faces.

The second event in this series will offer an overview of the current state of democracy in Peru led by Fernando Tuesta, former head of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE).

This session will be held in Spanish with English interpretation.

Featuring

Fernando Tuesta served as principal professor of political science at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), where he also was director of the Institute of Public Opinion. Tuesta is the former head of Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). He also served as a member of the Consultative Commission of the Congress and chaired the High Level Commission for Political Reform in 2019. He led the OAS Observer Mission in Mexico in 2022. He has written several books and articles in books and academic journals, as well as contributed to the most important newspapers in Peru. Tuesta obtained a Ph.D. in social sciences from the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos and a master's degree in sociology from PUCP; he also completed doctoral studies in political science at Heidelberg University in Germany.

Lorenzo Córdova is a Mexican constitutional scholar and public intellectual specializing in electoral law, constitutional theory, and democratic governance. He earned his law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a Ph.D. in political theory from the University of Turin, Italy. He is a full-time Researcher “B” at UNAM’s Legal Research Institute and is recognized by Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNI) as a Level III National Researcher, the highest distinction awarded by the program. Córdova is also a professor of constitutional theory and constitutional law at the UNAM Law School. His public service career includes serving as electoral councilor of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) from December 2011 to April 2014, followed by his tenure as councilor president of the National Electoral Institute (INE) from April 2014 to April 2023. A prolific author, Córdova has written, co-written, or coordinated more than a dozen books on constitutionalism, democracy, and political theory. His most recent work is La democracia constitucional en riesgo. Los autoritarios no descansan (2024). He is currently a weekly video columnist for Latinus, a columnist for El Universal, and a frequent contributor to specialized journals and broadcast media.