Elections in Peru: Keiko Fujimori approaches victory, and Roberto Sánchez calls for protests

Roberto Sánchez and Keiko Fujimori
REUTERS/Alessandro Cinque and REUTERS/Stifs Paucca
Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori came closer this Thursday (18) to a victory in Peru's presidential elections, while her left-wing rival, Roberto Sánchez, called for protests after alleging irregularities in the electoral process.
The count continues this Thursday, almost two weeks after the election, with a tight margin between the two with only 0.6% of the votes remaining to be counted.
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Fujimori, in his fourth attempt to reach the Presidency, maintained an advantage of 39,115 votes in a count that has left Peru in suspense since the second round on June 7.
According to an update from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) at 12:30 Brasília time this Thursday, the daughter of the late former president Alberto Fujimori had 50.107% of the valid votes, against 49.893% for Sánchez, with 99.38% of the votes counted.
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The contested votes still pending counting represented around 140 thousand votes this Thursday morning. About 60% of those votes came from Lima and Peruvians living abroad, where Fujimori won stronger support than his rival.
"These are areas where Keiko Fujimori should have an advantage," said Gonzalo Márquez, director of data consultancy Caleidos. "So there is no possibility, let's say, that the result will change."
Fujimori, who could become the first woman directly elected to the Presidency of Peru, has already lost three previous runoffs. In the most recent one, in 2021, she was defeated by the leftist candidate Pedro Castillo by just 44,200 votes.
While the slow review and recount of contested votes continued, Sánchez's party, Juntos por el Perú, stated this week that it will not respect the final result of the presidential elections due to a "lack of transparency" and called for protests in Lima for Friday (19). The party also went to Peru's court seeking to annul votes in favor of Fujimori.
Electoral observation missions from the Organization of American States and the European Union separately stated that the vote took place normally and urged the candidates and the country to await the official result.

Source: G1