Lima, Peru — The head of Peruvian The national election agency resigned on Tuesday over logistical problems that plagued the country’s highly disputed presidential election, for which officials have not declared the winners more than a week after voting took place.
In a letter sent to Peruvian authorities, Piero Corvetto denied any wrongdoing, but said that problems encountered during the April 12 election prompted him to resign in order to “generate more confidence” in the runoff vote on June 7.
More than 30 candidates ran in Peru’s presidential election on April 12, with hundreds of others running for congressional seats.
The election had to be extended an additional day after the agency failed to deliver voting materials to more than a dozen centers in Lima, a problem that prevented more than 52,000 people from voting on time.
Officials in Peru are still counting votes and examining tally sheets coming from remote areas and Peruvian consulates abroad.
A by-election will be held in June between the top two contenders as no candidate was able to get more than 50% of the votes.
Conservative leader, with 93.8% of votes counted Keiko Fujimori She is leading in the polls with 17.04% votes, and her entry in the June elections seems almost certain.
Roberto Sánchez, a nationalist congressman and former minister Imprisoned under former President Pedro CastilloThe candidate, who promised to partially nationalize Peru’s natural resources, is in second place so far with 12.01% of the votes, but Rafael López Aliaga, the ultraconservative former mayor of Lima, is in second place with 11.91% of the votes.
López Aliaga has challenged the partial results of the election, saying, without providing any evidence, that a “massive fraud” had been committed by Peruvian authorities, and has called for “complementary” elections in which hundreds of thousands of Peruvians who did not vote on April 12 could participate.
An election observation mission sent to Peru by the European Union said last week that the election faced logistical problems but found no evidence of fraudulent vote counting.
On Monday, Peru’s electoral tribunal set a May 15 deadline for officials to finish counting votes and announce the names of candidates advancing to the second round in the country’s highly competitive contest. presidential election.
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.
