Lime/The presidential elections in Peru held this Sunday are heading towards a second round between the right-wing Keiko Fujimori (Fuerza Popular) and, probably, the far-right Rafael López Aliaga (Renovación Popular), who denounced fraud without evidence and asked to capture the organizer of the elections, after an election day marked by logistical problems that forced voting to be extended to Monday in thirteen polling stations.
According to a quick count of 1,500 minutes carried out by the pollster Datum, Fujimori obtains first place with 16.8% of valid votes, followed by López Aliaga (12.9%), a Catholic fundamentalist and member of Opus Dei – opposed to abortion and in favor of the death penalty –, who has expressed his admiration for Donald Trump. The centrist Jorge Nieto (Good Government Party), with 11.4%, the only one who could put the businessman’s second place in check.
If this projection is confirmed, it will be the fourth time in a row that the candidate will be in the second round, after having lost in that instance on the three previous occasions against Ollanta Humala (2011), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016) and Pedro Castillo (2021).
The day was marked by logistical problems that forced voting to be extended to Monday in thirteen schools.
Meanwhile, for López Aliaga it will be the first time in that instance after not achieving it in 2021 and subsequently winning the elections for mayor of Lima, a position from which he resigned last year to once again be a presidential candidate.
At 40% of votes counted, Fujimori has 17.1% of valid votes, López Aliaga 16.4% and Nieto 13.8%.
After learning these results, the daughter and political heir of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-200) celebrated that the left is close to being left out of the second round.
“The results of the quick count are a very positive sign for the country, because the enemy is the left, and according to the results of the count, they would not be in the second round, and that is very positive for all Peruvians,” Fujimori emphasized.
The candidate and leader of Fuerza Popular, who ran a campaign in which she fully vindicated the government of her late father, the author of a self-coup d’état in 1992, and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights violations, among other sentences for corruption, maintained that “anti-Fujimorism has ruled us for 25 years, and all it has done is look for excuses and throw many insults.”
“We do not hold grudges. All these years made us better. The country is not saved by a single person, but by a team, and this team is directed and governed by the Presidency,” said the candidate during a speech from a hotel in Lima where she awaited the results of the quick count.
Fujimori said that “Peru can’t stand any more improvisations. “Today is not a day of celebration, because our country is going through difficult times, but it is a day of great hope. “Our country is much closer to recovering order,” he stressed.
Election day began with major delays in the opening of important voting centers in the capital Lima, due to the lack of electoral material, which meant that some 52,000 voters were unable to vote, a situation that motivated the National Elections Jury (JNE) to authorize, in an unprecedented decision, that voting in those locations take place this Monday.
López Aliaga (Renovación Popular) criminally sued the head of the ONPE, Piero Corvetto, for omission of duties and requested the Prosecutor’s Office to order his immediate arrest
The National Office of Electoral Processes (Onpe), in charge of organizing the elections, attributed the problem to the company hired for the delivery, which in some points arrived five hours after the start time of voting. According to the official report, 99.8% of the polling stations nationwide were installed.
Despite the decision to extend the vote to Monday, López Aliaga (Renovación Popular) criminally sued the head of Onpe, Piero Corvetto, for omission of duties and asked the Prosecutor’s Office to order his immediate arrest, considering that “it is no coincidence” that schools were left without opening in areas where, according to him, the majority vote for Renovación Popular.
However, both the electoral observation missions of the European Union (EU) and the Organization of American States (OAS) reported an election day without irregularities and with a large influx of voters, despite the problems in opening certain voting locations.
