Overview
- The Concejo Provincial unanimously approved unpaid leaves for Mayor Ruccy Oscco and regidores José Suárez, Cleopatra Chávez and Rocío Mango that will run from September 4 to October 4, 2026 so they can register candidacies for the 2026 regional and municipal elections.
- First regidor Rolando Bedregal is designated to assume municipal executive duties during the mayor’s absence and has said he will suspend his own electoral plans to take on that role.
- With the four officials stepping away and Bedregal moving to the executive bench, the council would have only 11 of its 15 members unless the Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) calls accesitarios to fill seats temporarily, a change that could affect quorum.
- Council commissions and oversight roles must be reconformed before the leave period, a shift councilors say could disrupt planned fiscalization and other municipal initiatives during September.
- The move comes about a month after Oscco assumed the mayoralty following Víctor Hugo Rivera’s vacancy and follows electoral rules that require public officials to request unpaid leave before registering their candidacies, a step that could reshape Arequipa’s political alignments ahead of October.