The Special Electoral Jury of Cajamarca has excluded Joaquín Ramírez from running for regional governor for hiding a past criminal conviction on his resume. The decision against the former congressman and former Fuerza Popular member also applies to the entire candidate slate registered by the Cajamarca Renace Regional Political Movement for the 2026 Regional and Municipal Elections.
Lawyer Santos Guevara Guevara filed the challenge after discovering a contradiction between two sworn statements submitted by Ramírez. In 2011, while running for Congress, Ramírez explicitly declared a final conviction for a crime against public trust. In his statement for the current election, he omitted the sentence and included only an ambiguous mention of a court case in an optional section, omitting dates, the offense, and the case number.
Rejection of candidate defense
Ramírez argued in his defense that he had no intention of concealing information and that a lack of physical documents due to passing time prevented him from providing details. He also claimed that his criminal rehabilitation exempted him from reporting the conviction. The electoral jury rejected his arguments, ruling that declaring final sentences is required to guarantee the right of voters to make an informed choice regardless of rehabilitation status.
The electoral panel ordered certified copies of the file sent to the Public Ministry to evaluate potential criminal liability. The ruling will be notified to the legal representative of the movement, who has three calendar days under the law to file an appeal with the National Jury of Elections.
