In an article published April 9, 2026, Diana Roy titles Peru, “South America’s most politically unstable country.” (Roy, 2026) In the past ten years, Peru has had 8 different presidents and will elect a ninth in the coming months. Not a single president in those ten years served a full term, and none of them even made it over 3 years in office. Manuel Merino served for a mere five days in November 2020 before he resigned. This severe political instability is a clear marker of democratic erosion, as it represents the slow death of democratic norms such as forbearance and mutual toleration.

Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt define two norms “as fundamental to a functioning democracy: mutual toleration and institutional forbearance” (Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018). Forbearance is “avoiding actions that, while respecting the letter of the law, obviously violate its spirit” (Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018). Unfortunately, this essential democratic norm has seen a decline in Peru in recent years. Perhaps the most primary example of the death of forbearance in Peru is Congress’s near-constant removal of the president from office. Not only does this create a shaky (at best) government, but it also reveals an ununited government body. In one of the most recent removals, there were “75 lawmakers who voted in favor of removing Jerí [president at the time], while 24 voted against and three abstained” (Reuters, 2026) – this was only four months into his term. The Congress’s lack of forbearance has resulted in a deeply unstable government. If this decline in democratic norms continues, Peru’s entire democracy could be at risk.

The other essential norm noted by Levitsky & Ziblatt is mutual toleration, defined as “the idea that as long as our rivals play by constitutional rules, we accept that they have an equal right to exist, compete for power, and govern” (Levitsky & Ziblatt, 2018). Mutual toleration is essential to democracy, as it is the basis for successful elections in which the ruling party cedes power. Most commonly, we see the collapse of mutual toleration between two competing political parties; in the case of Peru, we see it between the legislature and the executive. In his article, “Peru: presidents vs parliamentarians,” Xavier Rodríguez-Franco calls Congress the “main stumbling block to the presidential administration” (Rodríguez-Franco, 2021), stating that the key characteristic of the Peruvian political system in recent years is “mutual and systemic distrust between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers” (Rodríguez-Franco, 2021). For example, in February of this year, the congress removed the president from office because of China-linked secret meetings, again revealing the distrust between the congress and the president. It’s also worth noting that this was the third consecutive president to be removed from office. (Reuters, 2026). This is not a case of a complete collapse of mutual toleration; however, it is clearly en route in that direction. The Peruvian Congress is showing a complete distrust of the executive, continually removing presidents from office and overriding or blocking the presidential administration. If the Peruvian government continues down this road, it will lead to a fragmented government in which there is no trust for other branches to carry out essential functions, ultimately leading to the collapse of democracy in Peru.
Peru might not be a complete autocracy, but its clear decline in democratic norms is surely something to raise concern. If Peru’s government continues to disregard essential concepts such as mutual toleration and institutional forbearance, it could be argued that Peru’s democracy will simply cease to exist.

Works Cited

Council on Foreign Relations. (2026, April 14). Peru is about to elect its ninth president in a decade: What happened to the other eight?. https://www.cfr.org/articles/peru-is-about-to-elect-its-ninth-president-in-a-decade-what-happened-to-the-other-eight

Lozano, D., & Associated Press. (2022, April 7). Peru congress ousts president over China-linked secret meetings. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/peru-congress-ousts-president-china-linked-secret-meetings-rcna25948

Rodríguez-Franco, X. (2026, April 15). Peru: Presidents vs parliamentarians. Latinoamerica21. https://latinoamerica21.com/en/peru-presidents-vs-parliamentarians/