More than 30 candidates are in contention or the presidency, with no clear frontrunner going into Sunday's vote.
https://p.dw.com/p/5C3mcPeruvians will elect a new president from a record field of 35 candidatesImage: Luis Robayo/AFPAdvertisementVoters in Peru headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president and members of Congress.
Sunday's election is taking place amid a spike in violent crime and corruption, and there is currently no clear favourite candidate among disgruntled voters.
A successful candidate needs more than 50% of votes to win outright and given the discontent among the electorate, it's highly likely there will be a runoff in June.
Voting stations opened at 7 a.m. local time (1200 GMT), with about 27 million people eligible to vote.
Polls close at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT), with preliminary results from the country's election monitor expected soon after.
There are 35 names on the ballot, which includes Keiko Fujimori, a conservative former congresswoman and daughter of the late President Alberto Fujimori.
She has vowed to crack down on crime, but has also defended laws that experts say make it difficult to prosecute criminals.
Rafael Lopez Aliaga — the conservative former mayor of Peru's capital Lima — is also in contention and has proposed building prisons in the Amazon region, allowing members of the judiciary to conceal their identities with the intention of shielding judges from criminal gangs.
He's also pushed for the expulsion of foreigners living in the country illegally.
Popular comedian Carlos Alvarez, is also campaigning on a tough anti-crime platform.
Lima bus drivers fear for their safety in Peru's crime spikeTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video
