By Marco Aquino
LIMA, May 12 (Reuters) – Conservative Keiko Fujimori and leftist Roberto Sanchez are leading the vote count in the final stretch of Peru’s first-round April presidential election, with 99.76% of ballots tallied as of Tuesday, according to electoral authorities.
Peru’s National Jury of Elections said the final result will be announced by May 15, after weeks of delays due to logistical failures and allegations of fraud.
With most of the ballots counted, Fujimori, the daughter of late former President Alberto Fujimori who is on her fourth run for the job, maintained a comfortable lead with 17.17% of the vote.
Sanchez, who is running with the backing of jailed former leftist President Pedro Castillo, stood at 12%, narrowly ahead of ultra-conservative former Lima Mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga with 11.91%. Sanchez has a near 15,000-vote lead over Lopez Aliaga as results continue to trickle in through Peru’s ONPE electoral office.
The country’s prolonged count has triggered fraud allegations, notably from Lopez Aliaga, and prompted the resignation of the country’s top electoral official, who is now under investigation by the public prosecutor. European Union observers have said they found no concrete evidence of fraud.
ONPE said several thousand ballots, representing roughly 50,000 votes, remain uncounted, though voting trends in recent days indicate the final result is unlikely to shift.
No candidate won enough support to avoid a runoff election scheduled for June 7 between the top two contenders.
Together, the right-wing parties of Fujimori and Lopez Aliaga would command a majority in both the Senate and the lower house, after Peru reinstated a bicameral legislature during April’s general election.
The political uncertainty as the vote count drags on has weighed on financial markets, which have reacted nervously to Sanchez, who has said he will review major stake contracts in mining and gas, gaining ground.
The Peruvian sol has weakened against the dollar in recent weeks, as traders price in the possibility that Sanchez advances to the runoff, reflecting concerns among investors about potential policy shifts under a left-leaning government.
“The market is pricing in Sanchez’s entry into the second round, which recalls 2021,” said analyst Cesar Huiman, at brokerage Renta4. “There’s going to be a contest between a right-wing candidate and a left-wing one,” he added.
During the 2021 election, Peruvian markets slumped following the surprise rise of Castillo, who narrowly defeated Fujimori in the runoff.
An April 26 Ipsos opinion poll put Fujimori and Sanchez in a tie for the runoff on 38% each. Analysts pointed to the high level of rejection both candidates face. Another Ipsos survey found that 48% of respondents said they would definitely not vote for Fujimori, down from 59% before the April election. Meanwhile, 43% said they rejected Sanchez, up from 39% three weeks earlier.
Peru, a major exporter of copper and agricultural goods, has faced years of political upheaval with eight presidents in the last decade. Several of its former leaders are behind bars.
Despite this, it has long been one of Latin America’s most stable economies.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Writing by Lucinda Elliott; Editing by Cassandra Garrison and Bill Berkrot)
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