The Queue at the Border
In the Chilean border towns where Peruvian expatriates gathered to vote in May 2026, the queues stretched for blocks and the atmosphere was tense . Disorder marked the voting process, witnesses reported—a small chaos echoing a larger one. Back home, their compatriots were choosing between two deeply polarizing candidates in a runoff election that many regarded not as a contest between visions but as a referendum on survival. Peru, which has cycled through seven presidents in nine years , was voting yet again. And yet again, no one could say with certainty what would come next.