Vice President of Peru facts for kids

Quick facts for kids First Vice President and Second Vice President of the Republic of Peru
Great Seal of the State
Incumbent First Vice President: Vacant (latest incumbent Dina Boluarte) Second Vice President: Vacant (latest incumbent Mercedes Aráoz) since 7 December 2022 (First) and 7 May 2020 (Second)
Residence	Government Palace
Appointer	Only direct popular election
Term length	Five years, renewable non-consecutively
Inaugural holder	Diego de Aliaga (1823) Juan Antonio Pezet and Pedro Diez Canseco (1862)
Formation	1823 (Vice President) 1862 (First Vice President and Second Vice President)
Succession	First and Second

Peru has two vice presidents: the first vice president and the second vice president. They are chosen during democratic elections along with the president. Their main job, according to the country's rules, is to step in if the president cannot do their job. This happens if the president passes away, resigns, is unable to serve, or is removed from office. They also step in if the president is out of the country without permission or does not return on time. Vice presidents cannot be chosen at any other time; they must be elected during general elections.

The first vice president is next in line to become president, followed by the second vice president. After them, the leader of the Peruvian Congress is next in line.

In recent Peruvian history, two vice presidents have become president. Martín Vizcarra became president in 2018. This happened after President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned due to a scandal. Later, Dina Boluarte became president in 2022. She took over after President Pedro Castillo tried to close Congress and was then removed from his position.

Historically, Peru used to have only one vice president. This was the case from 1829 to 1831 and again from 1858 to 1862. The system of having both a first and second vice president began in 1862.

Currently, both the first and second vice president positions are empty. The last person to be first vice president was Dina Boluarte. The last person to be second vice president was Mercedes Aráoz.

A Look at Peru's Vice Presidents

The First Vice President Role

The idea of a vice president in Peru first appeared in the country's rules in 1823. This rule said: "There will be a Vice President. This person must have the same qualities as the President. They will take over the President's duties if the President passes away, resigns, or is removed from office. They also step in if the President cannot control the armed forces."

Later rules in 1828 and 1826 also suggested having only one vice president. This person would be chosen by the president. However, the vice president role was removed in 1834. It was brought back in 1856, still as a single vice president.

How Two Vice Presidents Came to Be

In 1860, Peru's rules changed to create two vice presidents. These two, called the first and second vice presidents, would be elected at the same time as the president. They would serve for the same amount of time and need the same qualifications.

A new set of rules in 1867 tried to limit the power of the vice presidents. But these rules did not last long. A successful uprising that same year brought back the 1860 rules.

The positions of vice presidents were removed again in 1920. The rules from 1933 did not change this. However, the role was brought back by law in 1936. In 1939, people voted to officially add the first and second vice president roles back into the country's rules.

The rules from 1993, which are still used today, recognize that Peru has two vice presidents in the Executive Branch.

As mentioned, Martín Vizcarra became president in 2018. He was the first vice president when President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned. In 2022, Dina Boluarte, who was the first vice president, became president. This happened after President Pedro Castillo tried to close Congress and was removed from office. No second vice president has recently become president.

Who Holds the Office Now?

The position of first vice president is currently empty. The last person to hold this role was Dina Boluarte. She served until December 7, 2022. This was when President Pedro Castillo attempted to take control and was removed from his position.

The position of second vice president is also currently empty. This is because the person who was supposed to run as second vice president with Pedro Castillo in the 2021 election, Vladimir Cerrón, was not allowed to run. He had been in prison for corruption since 2019.

The last person to be second vice president was Mercedes Aráoz. She held the office until her resignation was accepted by Congress on May 7, 2020. Before that, in September 2019, the Peruvian Congress had declared President Martín Vizcarra unfit for office. They named Aráoz as acting president. However, President Vizcarra had already closed Congress that same day. Since Aráoz supported Vizcarra's call for new elections, she resigned as second vice president on October 1, 2019. This left Vizcarra as the only person claiming the presidency. Her resignation was officially accepted by a newly elected Congress in May 2020.

List of Vice Presidents of Peru

Portrait	Pos.	Vice President	Political party	Inaugurated	Left office	President	Notes
	-	Diego de Aliaga		November 1823	February 1824	José Bernardo de Tagle
	-	Manuel Salazar y Baquíjano		August 1827	June 1829	José de la Mar
	-	Antonio Gutiérrez de la Fuente		1 September 1829	16 April 1831	Agustín Gamarra
	-	Juan Manuel del Mar		24 October 1858	16 June 1862	Ramón Castilla
	First	Juan Antonio Pezet	Military	24 October 1862	5 August 1863	Miguel de San Román
	Second	Pedro Diez Canseco
	First	Mariano Herencia Zevallos	Military	2 August 1868	27 July 1872	José Balta
	Second	Francisco Diez Canseco
	First	Manuel Costas Arce	Civilista Party	2 August 1872	2 August 1876	Manuel Pardo y Lavalle
	Second	Francisco Garmendia Puértolas
	First	Luis La Puerta		2 August 1876	18 December 1879	Mariano Ignacio Prado
	Second	José Francisco Canevaro
	First	Lizardo Montero Flores		12 March 1881	6 November 1881	Francisco García Calderón
	Second	Andrés Avelino Cáceres
	First	Remigio Morales Bermúdez	Constitutional Party	3 June 1886	10 August 1890	Andrés Cáceres
	Second	Aurelio Denegri
	First	Pedro Alejandrino del Solar	Constitutional Party	10 August 1890	1 April 1894	Remigio Morales Bermúdez
	Second	Justiniano Borgoño
	First	César Canevaro	Constitutional Party	10 August 1894	20 March 1895	Andrés Cáceres
	Second	Cesáreo Chacaltana Reyes
	First	Guillermo Billinghurst	Democratic Party	8 September 1895	8 September 1899	Nicolás de Piérola
	Second	Augusto Seminario Váscones
	First	Isaac Alzamora	Alianza Civil-Demócrata	8 September 1899	8 September 1903	Eduardo López de Romaña
	Second	Federico Bresani
	First	Lino Alarco Brediñana	Civilista Party	-	-	Manuel Candamo	Died 13 June 1903 before taking office
	Second	Serapio Calderón		8 September 1903	7 May 1904
	First	José Salvador Cavero Ovalle	Civilista Party	24 September 1904	24 September 1908	José Pardo y Barreda
	Second	Serapio Calderón			1907
	First	Eugenio Larrabure y Unanue	Civilista Party	24 September 1908	24 September 1912	Augusto Leguía
	Second	Belisario Sosa	Constitutional Party
	First	Roberto Leguía	Civilista Party	24 September 1912	4 February 1914	Guillermo Billinghurst
	Second	Miguel Echenique
	First	Ricardo Bentín Sánchez	Alianza Civil-Constitucional-Liberal	18 August 1915	4 July 1919	José Pardo y Barreda
	Second	Melitón Carvajal
	First	César Canevaro		12 October 1919	31 October 1922	Augusto Leguía
	Second	Agustín de la Torre González			12 October 1924
	First	Ernesto Montagne Markholz	Peruvian Army	13 April 1936	8 December 1939	Óscar R. Benavides
	Second	Antonio Rodríguez Ramírez
	First	Rafael Larco Herrera	Conservative	8 December 1939	28 July 1945	Manuel Prado Ugarteche
	Second	Carlos D. Gibson
	First	José Gálvez Barrenechea	National Democratic Front	28 July 1945	29 October 1948	José Bustamante y Rivero
	Second	Eduardo Ganoza y Ganoza
	-	Zenón Noriega Agüero	Peruvian Army	29 October 1948	1 June 1950	Manuel A. Odría	De facto
	First	Héctor Boza	Odriíst National Union	28 July 1950	28 July 1956
	Second	Federico Bolognesi
	First	Luis Gallo Porras	Peruvian Democratic Movement	28 July 1956	18 July 1962	Manuel Prado Ugarteche
	Second	Carlos Moreyra y Paz Soldán
	First	Nicolás Lindley López	Peruvian Army	18 July 1962	3 March 1963	Ricardo Pérez Godoy	De facto
	Second	Pedro Vargas Prada					De facto
	First	Edgardo Seoane Corrales	Popular Action	28 July 1963	3 October 1968	Fernando Belaúnde Terry
	Second	Mario Polar Ugarteche	Christian Democracy
	-	Luis Edgardo Mercado Jarrín	Peruvian Army	3 October 1968	30 August 1975	Juan Velasco Alvarado	De facto
	-	Pedro Richter Prada		30 August 1975	28 July 1980	Francisco Morales Bermúdez	De facto
	First	Fernando Schwalb	Popular Action	28 July 1980	28 July 1985	Fernando Belaúnde Terry
	Second	Javier Alva Orlandini
	First	Luis Alberto Sánchez	Peruvian Aprista Party	28 July 1985	28 July 1990	Alan García Pérez
	Second	Luis Alva Castro
	First	Máximo San Román	Change 90	28 July 1990	5 April 1992	Alberto Fujimori
	Second	Carlos García y García
	First	Ricardo Márquez Flores	Change 90-New Majority	28 July 1995	28 July 2000
	Second	César Paredes Canto
	First	Francisco Tudela	Peru 2000	28 July 2000	22 November 2000		Resigned.
	Second	Ricardo Márquez Flores
	First	Raúl Diez Canseco	Popular Action	28 July 2001	14 December 2004	Alejandro Toledo Manrique	Resigned
	Second	David Waisman	Possible Peru		28 July 2006
	First	Luis Giampietri	Peruvian Aprista Party	28 July 2006	28 July 2011	Alan García Pérez
	Second	Lourdes Mendoza
	First	Marisol Espinoza	Peruvian Nationalist Party (until 2015) Alliance for Progress (since 2015)	28 July 2011	28 July 2016	Ollanta Humala
	Second	Omar Chehade	Peruvian Nationalist Party		16 January 2012		Resigned
	First	Martín Vizcarra	Peruvians for Change	28 July 2016	23 March 2018	Pedro Pablo Kuczynski	Succeeded Kuczynski as President
	Second	Mercedes Aráoz	Independent politician		-
	First	Vacant		23 March 2018	10 November 2020	Martín Vizcarra	Vacant upon Martín Vizcarra's accession to the presidency
	Second	Mercedes Aráoz	Independent politician	-	7 May 2020		Submitted her resignation on 1 October 2019 amidst the 2019–2020 Peruvian constitutional crisis, but her resignation was not officially accepted by Congress until 7 May 2020
	First	Vacant		10 November 2020	15 November 2020	Manuel Merino
	Second	Vacant
	First	Vacant		17 November 2020	28 July 2021	Francisco Sagasti
	Second	Vacant
	First	Dina Boluarte	Free Peru (until 2022) Independent (since 2022)	28 July 2021	7 December 2022	Pedro Castillo	Succeeded Castillo as President
	Second	Vacant					President Pedro Castillo's winning ticket in the 2021 election originally had Vladimir Cerrón as nominee for Second Vice President before Cerrón's removal from the ticket due to his conviction on corruption charges
	First	Vacant		7 December 2022		Dina Boluarte	Vacant since Dina Boluarte's accession to the presidency
	Second	Vacant					Vacant.

See also

In Spanish: Vicepresidente del Perú para niños

• List of current vice presidents