Peru’s electoral tribunal on Monday set a May 15 deadline for the nation’s elections agency to publish full vote tallies and name the two candidates advancing to a June 7 runoff. The April 12 presidential election saw more than 30 candidates competing for the presidency, with no contender securing more than half the votes needed to win outright.
The deadline comes as Keiko Fujimori leads the count with 17.05% of the vote, while second and third place are separated by less than one percentage point, with voting irregularities and challenged ballots adding to the procedural pressure on election officials.
With 93.5% of votes counted, conservative leader Keiko Fujimori leads the count with 17.05% of the vote and appears almost certain to advance to the runoff. A razor-thin margin of less than one percentage point separates the second and third place finishers.
Roberto Sánchez, a nationalist congressman and former minister under imprisoned ex-President Pedro Castillo, holds second place with 12% of the votes. Rafael López Aliaga, the ultraconservative former mayor of Lima, trails closely in third with 11.91% of the votes.
Electoral Challenges and Irregularities
Election officials are processing tally sheets arriving from remote areas and the nation’s consulates overseas while reviewing hundreds of tally sheets challenged by electoral observers. The election was marked by logistical problems. Voting irregularities forced authorities to reopen some polling stations in the capital city of Lima for an additional day beyond the original April 12 date.
López Aliaga has challenged the partial results, claiming without evidence that a “gigantic fraud” was committed by Peruvian officials. He has called for a “complementary” election in which hundreds of thousands of Peruvians who did not cast ballots on April 12 could participate.
A European Union electoral observation mission said there were no signs of a fraudulent vote count, though the election had experienced logistical problems.
Competing Economic Visions
López Aliaga has focused on a hard-line security agenda, proposing to build prisons in the country’s Amazon region, allowing judges to conceal their identities and expelling foreigners living illegally in Peru. He has not promised major changes to the country’s free market economy.
Sánchez, a former commerce minister, has taken a different approach. He has promised major economic changes including a dramatic expansion of government spending, an extensive reform of the tax system and partial nationalization of Peru’s natural resources. Early in his campaign he said he would remove the director of Peru’s central bank, but later modified that position saying he would respect the bank’s autonomy.
Fujimori, the daughter of a former president who was jailed for human rights abuses, has been a presidential candidate three times before. She has advanced to the second round in all three previous contests but was unable to win any of them.
A Decade of Instability
The winner of the runoff will be Peru’s ninth president in just 10 years. The position was previously held by José María Balcázar, who was elected interim president in February. He replaced another interim leader who was ousted over corruption allegations just four months into his term.