Lima, Peru — Results from Peru’s presidential election Thursday showed a race for second and third place so tight that it could take weeks to finalize the country’s top two candidates. required runoff election In June.
A nationalist congressman aligned with the jailed former president and an ultraconservative politician promising to reinstate the death penalty are the top contenders to face off Keiko FujimoriWho was almost assured of taking the top spot among 35 candidates in Sunday’s election.
With 93% of ballots tallied, official results on Tuesday showed Fujimori, the conservative daughter of Disgraced former president Alberto FujimoriLeading the count with 17.06%, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a runoff.
Behind him, Roberto Sánchez, a Nationalist congressman and former minister Imprisoned under former President Pedro CastilloEarned 11.97%. Rafael López Aliaga, the ultraconservative former mayor of the Peruvian capital Lima, is in third place with 11.91%.
Suspense has increased over who will advance in the June 7 election, with the most recent results showing a gap of more than 8,000 votes between Sánchez and López Aliaga.
They couldn’t be more different politically.
Sánchez, often seen in the wide-brimmed peasant hat that has become his trademark, has promised major economic changes, including a dramatic expansion of government spending, a comprehensive reform of the tax system, and the partial nationalization of Peru’s natural resources.
López Aliaga, the ultraconservative former mayor of the Peruvian capital Lima, focuses on a radical security agenda, proposing the construction of prisons in the country. Amazon regionAllowing judges to conceal their identities and expel foreigners living in Peru illegally.
The narrow gap has been widened by nearly 1,600 pending tally sheets from remote villages and abroad. Additionally, another 5,000 sheets have been challenged, leaving the electoral courts to face an appeals process that could take several weeks to resolve.
“In Peru, a percentage of the tally sheets are always ‘challenged’ because of possible mathematical errors,” said Alvaro Henzler, president of Transparency, a democracy-watchdog group that has deployed 4,000 observers. “When that happens, they are sent to 60 special election boards for review.”
In 2021, Peru’s electoral tribunal announced the results of the first round 37 days after voting on 11 April. However, at that time, the gap between the second-place contenders was more than 238,000 votes from the beginning, leaving little room for suspense.
Henzler said, “In this case, because the race is so tight, competitor tally sheets can change the standings; that’s why it’s taking longer.”
A presidential candidate needs more than 50% of the votes to win outright. The two candidates receiving the most votes in the first round will advance to the voting on June 7.
the winner will be from peru Ninth President in just 10 years and will replace jose maria balcazarWho was elected interim President in February. He replaced another interim leader who was thrown out on corruption charges Only four months have passed since his tenure.
In his fourth bid for the presidency, Fujimori has promised to crack down on crime but has also defended laws that experts say make it difficult to prosecute criminals. Laws supported by his party in recent years ended pretrial detention in some cases and increased the threshold for confiscating criminal assets.
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