A disputed vote during the election of Peru's new Senate president on July 26 has exposed internal divisions inside the left-wing coalition Juntos por el Perú, with Senator Silvana Robles suspended after allies accused her of casting a vote that benefited the opposition.
According to multiple sources consulted by El Comercio, former presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez used the incident to sideline legislators aligned with imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, including Robles, Iber Maravi, and Jose Mercedes Castillo Terrones.
The disputed ballot
Robles was in the middle of a doctoral thesis review session when the first vote was called on July 26. She marked her ballot quickly and showed it to those present for only about two seconds before returning her attention to the session. She voted for Lista 2, but observers did not take note at the time.
The confusion came to light after Miguel Torres was elected Senate president by what other senators described as a spoiled vote. Legislators looked for someone to blame, and Daniel Barragan, a candidate for the left-wing Partido Civico Obras, was among the first to make accusations. He said that when a problem happens twice it can no longer be called a mistake.
Sources told the newspaper that before the session, senators had been called to the Mariategui room to agree on how to vote, but not all attended. Some were reportedly unsure whether to vote for Lista 1 or Lista 2, and at least a few were still asking for guidance once inside the chamber.
Suspension and fallout
By the end of that same day, Sanchez had ordered Robles investigated and suspended. The speed of the decision left her without backing. She denied the accusations, saying she firmly rejected any claim that she had given her vote to the fujimoristas.
Robles contacted Castillo from prison that day to discuss the episode. He told her not to worry and said he knew she had not voted in favor of fujimorismo, according to sources.
When Robles later questioned Sanchez about the statement issued by Juntos por el Perú, he told her the suspension would have no major consequences beyond her removal from the senators' WhatsApp group. A source reported that Sanchez told her the situation was simply how politics worked but that the party stood with her.
One party source said that by targeting Robles, the move also amounted to a blow against Castillo. Juntos por el Perú plans to have three party members produce a formal report on the alleged betrayal within the next two weeks.
Deeper divisions
Another source told the newspaper that during the second round of the presidential election, those closest to Sanchez had already been trying to distance themselves from Castillo's supporters. According to this account, Sanchez's inner circle restricted access to information about his schedule and activities, though Sanchez continued visiting Castillo at Barbadillo prison to brief him on his plans.
The source said that during the second round, those around Sanchez were acting on their own and not following Castillo's direction, and that people trusted by Castillo had lost access to Sanchez's inner circle.
Ernesto Zunini, speaking to El Comercio, denied that any of this reflected a deliberate strategy to fracture the coalition or benefit any individual. He said such actions had no place inside Juntos por el Perú and that the party would make every effort to maintain and expand its unity, calling it a national necessity for building a solid and responsible opposition.
Walter Ayala, Castillo's lawyer, offered a different reading. He said the perception of distance between Sanchez's circle and the castillistas might simply reflect the rise of new faces within Juntos por el Perú during the second round, such as Zunini and Walter Flores Choco, who were previously unknown and have now become prominent internal figures.
