Peru's JNE Launches Census to Reassign School Polling Stations Ahead of El Niño

Overview

• The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones has begun a nationwide census and ordered mandatory technical inspections of school buildings used as polling sites, a process the agency announced Sunday to map which locations could be lost to flooding or collapse.
• The JNE identified 25,599 schools located in districts covered by the government’s emergency decree and says Ministry of Education data show roughly one in four of those schools has structural or geographic vulnerabilities.
• The highest concentration of at-risk sites is in the north, with Piura flagged for about 2,010 schools rated high or very high risk and special attention also on Tumbes, Lambayeque and Trujillo.
• The government declared a 60-day state of emergency under Decreto Supremo 097-2026-PCM and JNE is sharing final habitability metrics with ONPE while coordinating checks with Minedu, Indeci, Cenepred and local civil defense offices.
• If inspections confirm many schools cannot be used, ONPE will reassign polling places before the October 4 election and authorities say emergency works and contingency plans must be accelerated to protect voter access and election logistics.