ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the Peruvian presidential debates and electoral processes throughout the last four general elections, from 2001 to 2016. The party system in Peru has experienced a long legitimacy and representation crisis that has restricted the transparency and utility of electoral debates. Nevertheless, we find a positive tendency. First, the joint work between the public electoral body and civil society organisations have achieved the debate’s continuity in a context where candidates are not legally required to attend. Second, this alliance has made advances such as the insertion of citizen questions, the decentralisation of some debates outside the capital city, and the inclusion of debates between parties’ technical teams. At the same time information and communication technologies have fostered the debates’ outreach to younger voters, through social networks and other non-traditional channels. In this sense, debates have been contributing to inform voting and to strengthen democracy. However, the challenge for the future is to ensure that the candidates can be challenged about their proposals, without previously knowing the questions they will have to answer. In this less controlled scenario, presidential candidates would have to show their vision, skills and personalities more transparently.
