She is the daughter of Andrés Townsend, who was formerly the Speaker of the Peruvian Chamber of Deputies, and prominent Senator who founded the Latin American Parliament in 1964.
Townsend was elected to Congress in 1995 as a guest member on the candidate list presented by Ambassador Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
She is involved with the Advisory Council of the Latin American Parliament, which gathers 22 legislative bodies from Latin America and the Caribbean and also participates in the Advisory Council of Vital Voices for a Global Partnership in Washington DC which is a non profit organization chaired by Senator Hillary Clinton and Kay Bailey Hutchison that promotes female involvement in global leadership.
Additionally, she works as an international consultant in governance, gender, and anticorruption matters in Washington DC, USA.
Anel Townsend has authored three books: In the Name of Law, a compilation of her parliamentarian speeches; The Strengthening of Political Parties in Latin America; and lastly, For a World Without Poverty and Inequality: The role of the Latin American Parliamentarians in the implementation of Millennium Development Goals.