Peruvian Presidential Campaign Pursuing Blockchain Solutions

A political party in Peru is looking to make the blockchain a part of its presidential campaign platform.

Perú Posible

, a centre-leaning party led by former president Alejando Toledo, is gearing up for the upcoming presidential election set to take place next April. Hillmer Reyes, a policy director for Toledo’s campaign and a member of the party’s national committee, told Peruvian newspaper El Comercio the party would propose using the blockchain to help ease societal issues and combat corruption.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Reyes expanded on the initiative, outlining how a formal policy proposal is being drafted amid the run-up to the election. He framed it as part of a broader focus on technology's role in improving government services.

He said the party had been looking at the technology for months, considering both bitcoin and Ethereum, explaining:

“This is something that’s new. It’s still developing. But we want to start trying some of these things, and in the long run, if things go well, these things will increase in presence in the judicial system, land registry, political party system, and government itself for providing additional transparency and, really, to help make decision making a more decentralized process, to avoid corruption.”

Reyes pointed to the technology as a potential solution to what he called social conflicts arising from disputes over agreements. Reyes, who wrote about the issue in a May blog post, suggested smart contracts could help enforce agreements that become disputed.

He also pointed to the use of smart contracts to enforce elements of public policy that might otherwise fall victim to corruption.

“We see these smart contracts as a way to enable automatic execution of some of these policies that are written in black and white, but because there are political agendas, they don’t get implemented,” he said.

Next steps include continued debate within the campaign as its proposal is developed and reaching out to those in the field and beyond for input. Reyes said further details would be released sometime later this year.

Peru flag image via Shutterstock