Three of the five members of the Honor Tribunal of Peru's Electoral Ethical Pact resigned from their posts on Saturday, among them its president, Delia Revoredo, its vice-president, Gastón Soto Vallenas, and historian Carmen McEvoy, with less than seven days to go before the second round of the presidential elections scheduled for June 6.
In a letter sent to the National Jury of Elections (JNE) president, Jorge Salas Arenas, the resigning members link their decision to the "impossibility of fulfilling all the commitments" they assumed when they formed said tribunal.
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According to those who resigned, "we have not counted -and we would not count in the following weeks- on a loyal support from the logistic support team assigned to us by the National Jury of Elections," they said.
According to media reports, logistical support refers to the inability of the Tribunal to monitor the electoral process and supervise it properly due to the lack of resources for this task.
After the letter was made public, McEvoy explained in messages spread through Twitter that she resigned because "I assumed the assignment committed to performing the work with independence and autonomy, but also with a sense of opportunity.:
The historian considered that "the ongoing electoral process, complex and violent, demanded a more proactive and timely Court of Honor in its pronouncements."
"LETTER FROM RESIGNING MEMBERS OF THE ELECTORAL ETHICS PACT HONOR TRIBUNAL"
She also considered that the Tribunal should have received "more institutional support from the JNE, and a certain level of coordination with its head, precisely to ensure its independence."
She added that they made "the greatest efforts so that the decisions and pronouncements of the collegiate would be issued and disseminated without any more objections or delays than those caused by bureaucracy. However, despite all the efforts, that, for one reason, was one of our concerns," she said.
After the resignation, the president of the JNE regretted the decision and urged them to reconsider and retract the arguments presented to the public. He affirmed that they were "light" and denied that he had been previously informed.
Tarcila Rivera Zea and Susana Baca remain members of the Tribunal. At the same time, archaeologist Ruth Shady will be able to take over as the incumbent upon the departure of the other members.
According to local media, the resignation of the members of the Tribunal generates fears about the cleanliness of the electoral process at a time when, according to polls, the difference in voting intentions between the presidential candidates Pedro Castillo (Peru Libre) and Keiko Fujimori (Fuerza Popular) has reduced.