The Democratic Bloc (Spanish: Bloque Democrático), also called simply El Bloque or El Pacto, was the main Peruvian political coalition in the Peruvian Congress during the 2021-2026 parliamentary period and which has held the Presidency of Congress and the Board of Directors since 2021. One of its members, José Jerí, held the presidency following the vacancy of Dina Boluarte until his censure in February 2026. This coalition is known derogatorily by its critics and political opponents as "el Pacto Corrupto", the "Pacto Mafioso", the "Congressional Pact" or simply "the Pact".
It is composed of the parliamentary blocs of the parties Fuerza Popular, Avanza País, Perú Libre (since 2023), Acción Popular, Somos Perú and Alianza para el Progreso. Until 2023, Podemos Perú was part of this bloc. Renovación Popular, for its part, was part of it until 2024, when it separated from it. It originally emerged as an opposition bloc to the Presidency of Pedro Castillo, and remained as parliamentary support for the Presidency of Dina Boluarte. With the arrival of José María Balcázar, replacing José Jerí, the parties began to accuse each other of alleged secret pacts and internal betrayals.
Ideologically, it emerged led by right-wing political parties, although the participation of the conservative left-wing party Perú Libre modified this characteristic. It has been described as "conservative", "authoritarian", "centralist" and "anti–caviar mafia". Furthermore, it has been considered responsible for deciding which figures to protect or remove from political life, as well as for carrying out legislative and judicial reforms in the country. Among these reforms, sociologist Indira Huilca has highlighted the promotion of the so-called "Pro-Crime Law", the University Law and the rollback of women's rights.
Contents
History
Government of Pedro Castillo (2021–2022)
The Democratic Front (BD) emerged in opposition to the government of Pedro Castillo in 2021, when Fuerza Popular (FP) issued a statement accusing him of being communist. The party had already conducted an anti-communist campaign during the presidential campaign of Keiko Fujimori in the 2021 Peruvian general election and continued to insist on presenting itself as the "democratic option," calling on "democratic forces to confront this threat to our homeland in a cohesive manner". Lourdes Flores Nano, a member of FP's legal team, stated that "what is interesting in the current moment is the emergence of this democratic front in defense of freedom and democracy, in which we must make the effort so that what happened to the Venezuelans does not happen to us". Hernando "Nano" Guerra García stated that Fuerza Popular had approved the proposal to create a bloc with a parliamentary agenda that would "defend democracy," "freedoms," the Fujimorist 1993 Constitution, and the free market economy.
The first Board of Directors (MD) of the Congress was elected through an agreement between right-wing and anti-communist political parties before Pedro Castillo took office. The list was originally called the "Coalition for Democratic Governance" and was presented by Avanza País. According to lawyer Hugo Amanque Chaiña, they presented a joint center-right list to prevent the left-wing candidates' list from controlling Parliament and from having a narrative in favor of the legacy of the 1993 Constitution. Fujimorist spokesperson, Luis Galarreta, confirmed that six parliamentary blocs agreed to run on a single list "in defense of democracy and freedoms". Finally, Norma Yarrow asserted that a faction of Renovación Popular, which had a separate list to run for the MD, supported the "democratic board".
In its first few months, the bloc developed the first impeachment montion against the then-president, although it failed to coordinate the votes. By 2022, the BD almost lost the MD elections because there was little coordination among its constituent blocs, mainly due to Popular Renewal. Alejandro Cavero (Avanza País) suggested that there was a split between "opposition" factions (determined to impeach) and "democrats" (flexible on impeachment), the latter including a faction of Acción Popular and Podemos Perú. However, for the third impeachment of Pedro Castillo against Castillo after the president's self-coup attempt, the BD showed greater unity. In an interview with the newspaper Expreso, Ángel Delgado, one of the promoters of Castillo's removal, pointed out that the Democratic Bloc had the opportunity to call elections in time, but the fact that it did not do so ended up discrediting and damaging the image of the coalition in the eyes of the public.
Government of Dina Boluarte (2022–2025)
The lawyer Rosa María Palacios has described this parliamentary period as a "de facto pact", in which the coalition prevented the Executive Branch—which she refers to as "an ally and a puppet"—and other institutions, such as the Public Ministry of Peru under Patricia Benavides, from investigating her. Journalist Gustavo Gorriti has noted that the coalition abandoned anti-communism and increasingly aligned itself with the political left, thanks to "the common interest in preserving their positions and, among other things, in being able to halt the anti-corruption investigations that affect them".
A PUCP study from June 2024 indicated that the parliamentary groups that achieved the greatest legislative success were Acción Popular, Alianza para el Progreso, Avanza País, Fuerza Popular, Renovación Popular and Somos Perú. Free Peru and Popular Force were the parties that interacted most with each other in Congress.
The Democratic Movements of José Williams (Avanza País), Alejandro Soto (APP) and Eduardo Salhuana (APP) aligned themselves with the government of Dina Boluarte. Throughout Boluarte's administration, until her removal from office on 10 October 2025, all the parliamentary groups of the Democratic Bloc (with the exception of the communist Perú Libre) rejected and shelved seven motions of impeachment filed against her. On occasion, the parliamentary groups also rejected investigating Patricia Benavides.
Even Lady Camones (APP), former president of the MD, supported Boluarte on the grounds of "governability". Between 2022 and 2025, a project was coordinated to allow Congress to establish its "trusted staff module" and hire multiple people autonomously (without the need for a public competition), without limit and without technical requirements. This project was developed in secret in agreement (no. 072–2022–2023) between the legislative presidencies of Williams and Salhuana.
In May 2023, members of Congress organized impeachment proceedings against the representatives of the National Board of Justice, the institution investigating Patricia Benavides. The JNJ, which represented the Judiciary of Peru, was one of the few autonomous institutions resistant to the influence of the Democratic Bloc. Diego García-Sayan described how, as an institution that appoints judges, "it was no coincidence that the corrupt Congress targeted the JNJ". Fernando Vivas noted that the bloc's discussion focused less on whether to remove the members and more on how to do so elegantly while maintaining the guarantees of the right to a defence. The impeachment proceedings did not achieve the expected success, and only one person was sanctioned for a few months toward the end of that year, although Congress had the option of appointing new members to the JNJ in 2025.
Governments of José Jerí and José María Balcázar (2025–2026)
Researcher and PhD in Social and Political Sciences Roger Merino described José Jerí as the embodiment of the "pact" that has been governing "with an iron fist." In comparison to Boluarte, he stated that his government was an imitation of the previous one, but now "totally transparent" to public opinion. He clarified that the Parliament's intention with this government was "to continue expanding this power into all public institutions" and to counteract citizen mobilizations.
In February 2026, during the vote on the motion of censure against President Jerí, Fuerza Popular was the only political party that explicitly defended the continuation of Jerí's government. One of its members, Patricia Juárez, stated that his removal would constitute a "parliamentary coup" by their competitors. For its part, Renovación Popular voted in favor of the motion and publicly asked Fuerza Popular to "take responsibility for their votes, since they had created Fujijerismo". Perú Libre has not adopted a clear position, as Vladimir Cerrón has not explicitly expressed his opinion on the censure of José Jerí on his social media.
Following Jerí's removal, the bloc did not present a united front in the election for the new Speaker of Congress and President of the Republic. The conservative right-wing parties Popular Renewal and Popular Force, and the Popular Action caucus, announced their support for María del Carmen Alva (of Popular Action). Meanwhile, the leftist Peru Libre party nominated its member José María Balcázar, a candidacy that was supported by the populist right-wing parties Alianza para el Progreso and Podemos Perú. Balcázar won with 60 votes to 46, resulting in cross-accusations among the conservative right-wing caucuses of having secretly voted for the leftist candidate. María del Carmen Alva acknowledged that no left-wing parliamentarian would support her and that Balcázar was better received among both right-wing and left-wing congressmen, and therefore generated less friction for the continuity of political power.
Days later, José María Balcázar preliminarily chose Hernando de Soto as prime minister, a decision supported by members of Congress from Fuerza Popular and Renovación Popular. A few hours passed before it was discovered that Balcázar had formed a cabinet without De Soto, who denounced the considerable influence of APP leader, César Acuña. Denisse Miralles assumed the presidency of the Council of Ministers, generating divided reactions within the coalition regarding whether or not to grant her a vote of confidence. Miralles remained in office for less than a month, and Confiep blamed the parliamentary groups for her departure and the resulting "political instability".
2026 general election
For the 2026 Peruvian general election, each of the parties and members of parliament of the so-called Democratic Bloc are participating independently with their own party lists. The CongreZoo website reported that at least 30 candidates are guaranteed re-election to the bicameral Congress.
According to Juan Carlos Ruiz Rivas of the consulting firm ATIK, Fujimorism has consolidated its "hardcore vote" against a possible "anti-system vote" (i.e., against the parliamentary coalition). Keiko Fujimori (leader of FP) has denied participating in the "mafia pact" and has preferred to blame other politicians for the institutional crisis simply because she is not officially a head of state. Instead, she proposed forming an electoral alliance that would share "the economic chapter", and include the collaboration of Rafael López Aliaga (leader of Popular Renewal), arguing that "the enemies are over there" and that "the majority of Peruvians [sic] want you and me to go to a second round." However, López Aliaga refused.
Meanwhile, several former ministers of Dina Boluarte participated as candidates or technical advisors for the parties that form or have formed part of the Democratic Bloc: José Arista as a candidate for Fuerza Popular; Juan José Santiváñez, César Vásquez Sánchez and César Sandoval as candidates for Alianza para el Progreso; José Salardi as head of the government plan for Alianza para el Progreso; and Alex Contreras as head of the economic plan for Renovación Popular. This behaviour differs from that of the officials and associates of Pedro Castillo, who frequently turned to Juntos por el Perú, as did its presidential candidate and former minister Roberto Sánchez. Juntos por el Perú presented itself as a left-wing party that distanced itself from the Democratic Bloc to show support for the imprisoned former president. Sánchez was nearly sanctioned in political life, but Fujimorism refused due to a possible fear that he would be replaced by his alternate, Gahela Cari.
Outside the coalition, a possible link was revealed between Morgan Quero also a former minister under Boluarte (currently a member of Citizens for Peru), and the recently founded the Party of Good Government, que era fundado recientemente. Leader Jorge Nieto himself denied this, stating that he had severed all ties of friendship and forced a former official to withdraw her congressional candidacy with the aforementioned party. He also admitted that Dina Boluarte had summoned him for advice, although he clarified that his intention was for Boluarte to take responsibility for the deaths during the protests. Later, in the presidential debate, Jorge Nieto and Mesías Guevara asserted that there was a "mafia pact" or a "coalition" between the two powers currently governing the country.