In Peru, Sánchez recognizes defeat in the elections for Fujimori

Elections in Peru: Keiko Fujimori achieves an irreversible advantage and must be elected.
Roberto Sánchez, left-wing candidate who ran for President of Peru with conservative Keiko Fujimori, conceded defeat at the polls this Monday (6), three days after Peruvian electoral authorities declared his opponent the winner.
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After threats to challenge the result during the counting, Sánchez and his party said in a statement that they "recognize that the National Electoral Commission officially proclaimed the electoral results".
On June 23, after leading a large protest march with his supporters days earlier, Sánchez claimed that there was "ongoing fraud" in the vote counting process.
His party, Juntos por el Peru, filed lawsuits with the electoral court to annul votes from Lima and abroad, alleging voting patterns that favored Fujimori
Peru's left-wing presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez uses a megaphone to speak to his supporters during a protest
REUTERS/Alessandro Cinque
Fujimori's victory was ratified by the National Electoral Juror (JNE), the highest elections body in the country, on Friday (3), in a proclamation ceremony.
Fujimori had 9,223,396 votes, or 50.135%, against 9,173,755 votes for his competitor, the left-wing deputy Roberto Sánchez, or 49.865% of the votes, in the second round.
➡The vote took place on June 7th. The counting of votes took weeks and showed a scenario of strong polarization in the country, with only 49,641 votes separating the two candidates.
During the proclamation ceremony, the JNE reported that it had dismissed a request from Sánchez's party to challenge the polls abroad - he would have the majority of votes if only votes cast in Peruvian territory were counted.
Sánchez, Keiko's opponent in the second round, indicated that he would not would accept the results and said she would protest at the International Court of Human Rights.
Keiko Fujimori gives a speech in Lima, on June 24, 2026
Angela Ponce/Reuters
On the 24th, when she achieved an irreversible vote advantage in the count, Keiko gave a speech as the de facto winner of the election, but without claiming victory. She promised to bring the country back together.
"We are aware that Peru is divided, that it is practically split in half," Fujimori said in front of reporters in Lima.
Fujimori must take over the country at a time of rising crime and major social challenges. She will also have difficulty negotiating with the Legislature, deeply divided between left and right.
Presidential instability
Keiko, daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, will take over the country at a time of political instability. The right-wing will replace the current president, José María Balcázar Zelada, left-wing, who took power on an interim basis just four months ago.
Zelada replaced former president José Jeri, who was also in office for just four months and was removed by Congress for misconduct after it came to light that he participated in undisclosed meetings with Chinese businesspeople. His predecessor, Dina Boluarte, was also removed due to corruption scandals.
Boluarte was also interim and had replaced former president Pedro Castillo, who was arrested after dissolving Congress and declaring a state of exception, in a maneuver to try to circumvent an impeachment process.
The crises were just the latest involving presidents of Peru, which has been experiencing one of the worst periods of political instability in its history in the last decade. In the last eight years alone, the Andean country has had eight presidents.
Peru's left-wing presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez uses a megaphone to address his supporters during a protest
REUTERS/Alessandro Cinque
Counting and protests
Sánchez alleged fraud in the elections and called his supporters for protests. The leftist also said that he would request a recount and appeal to the IACHR to contest the result.
Roberto Sánchez, from the Juntos por el Perú party, led the count for days, but Keiko Fujimori, from Fuerza Popular, came ahead again due to the votes of Peruvian citizens abroad.
The left-wing candidate also presented a new appeal to annul the votes of Peruvians residing outside the country.
Sánchez alleges alleged administrative irregularities and problems in the management of voting ballots by the electoral body in the election held in exterior. Lawyers specializing in electoral law, interviewed by the local newspaper El Comercio, state that the request has no legal basis and only serves to delay the official proclamation of the results.
Peru's right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori and left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez before a televised debate on May 31 in Lima, on the eve of the second round of presidential elections, scheduled for June 7.
Reuters/Alessandro Cinque

Source: G1