Leftist lawmaker and former minister Roberto Sánchez is campaigning in a giant straw hat that is not his.
It once belonged to Peru’s imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, who won the 2021 election against Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, whom Sánchez will also face in Sunday’s runoff election.
Along with Castillo, the hat has become a symbol of the grassroots political movement Sánchez will undertake if he wins the highly polarized election.
Born in Huaral, a coastal province north of Lima, to a barber and a housekeeper, Sánchez shined shoes from the age of seven to 13. He earned a degree in psychology and a master’s degree in social policy from the University of San Marcos.
His entire career has been in the public sector, including as a member of the National Assembly, Minister of Commerce under Castillo, and since 2017 as president of the Juntos por el Perú (Together for Peru) party.
castilianismCastillo’s namesake political movement is rooted in rural land reform, anti-elitism, and left-wing populism. Some analysts argue that the country’s social and economic realities are forcing the movement to persist despite its leader’s jailing in 2022 for trying to dissolve parliament.
“The vote for Castillo and Sánchez has a real basis. I would describe it as a vote born of desperation and giving up rather than a protest vote. It is the vote of Peru’s extremely poor,” said Hernán Garrido Lecca, economist and former health minister (2007-2008). Peru Report.
According to Peru’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), in 2025, 4.7% of Peru’s population (approximately 1.6 million people) lived in extreme poverty, unable to afford even a basket of basic food.
Poverty exists primarily in rural communities in the Andes and Amazon regions, which are largely separated from the economic and political center of the capital Lima.
Peruvian journalist Catherine Lanseros said, “Castilismo reacts not to Castillo as an individual, but to what he represents: a protest against Lima’s centralism and regional abandonment.” Peru Report.
Unlike Castillo, Sánchez has tried to present himself as a more institutional and pragmatic left-wing candidate.
He is a better educated, more articulate and seasoned politician. He made that distinction clear during a debate last week, attacking Fujimori and her party, the Fuerza Popular Party, for their role in contributing to the country’s political instability in recent years.
In an effort to reassure moderates wary of his leftist policies, Sánchez presented a 114-page government plan in the final days of the campaign that promised macroeconomic stability, respect for central bank autonomy and continuity of free trade agreements.
Whether this represents true moderation or a last-minute political strategy remains a crucial question for many Peruvians.
As Lanseros said: “No matter how many times he rewrites the government proposals, Sánchez cannot deny his essence.”
Featured image: Roberto Sánchez is running as a presidential candidate for Peru in the June 7, 2026 election.
Image Credit: Roberto Sánchez via X
