dailyloe.com – Peru is heading to a second-round presidential election after none of the 35 candidates secured a direct victory. The two contenders for the runoff scheduled for June are not yet defined. The slow vote count continued on Tuesday.
Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and ultraconservative Rafael López Aliaga were leading the tally. This followed the computation of 80% of the votes. Fujimori remained in first place with 16.88% support. This was according to the preliminary count from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE).
That level of support is insufficient for a first-round victory. Peruvian law requires 50% plus one of the total valid votes. López Aliaga, candidate of the Popular Renewal party, was in second place. He had 12.48% support after a campaign marked by high vote dispersion.
Jorge Nieto Montesinos was in third place with 11.61% support. He retains mathematical possibilities of entering the runoff scheduled for June 7. The slowness of the count is greater than the regional average. It also characterized Peru’s last presidential elections in 2021.
In 2021, 100% of votes were tallied five days after the voting. An electoral observation mission from the European Union spoke on Tuesday. It said there were not ‘sufficient elements’ to affirm there was fraud. This followed claims by candidate López Aliaga on Sunday.
López Aliaga had claimed, without showing proof, there was a ‘unique electoral fraud in the world’. Peru’s Electoral Tribunal ordered an extension of the general elections on Sunday. Voting was extended until Monday because 52,561 citizens could not vote. They were unable to vote due to missing ballots at 13 voting centers in Lima.
Voting also took place on Monday in Orlando and Paterson in the United States. Meanwhile, Congress summoned the heads of the Electoral Tribunal and the ONPE. They were summoned to explain the lack of ballots on Sunday. The head of the ONPE, Piero Corvetto, spoke to legislators.
Corvetto said the electoral material was always guarded by his organization despite the incident. He added the results obtained ‘will yield two candidates. They will dispute the second round in June with absolute legality and legitimacy.’
In the evening, supporters of López Aliaga protested in front of the Electoral Tribunal. They shouted ‘no to fraud’ and demanded the resignation of ONPE official Corvetto. Such a resignation could not occur according to the law.[]
Source: San Antonio Express-News
