Peru heads to June 7 presidential runoff with Keiko Fujimori in lead

Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), the country’s electoral body, announced Friday the final ballot count from the first round of elections, with candidate Keiko Fujimori maintaining the lead and facing Roberto Sanchez in the June 7 presidential runoff.

More than 30 days after the first round on April 12 and its extension the next day, electoral authorities confirmed that 100% of ballots had been counted. The two candidates advancing to the runoff will officially be announced on May 17, although Friday’s results already point to a likely showdown for the presidency.

According to the results released Friday, Fujimori, candidate of the Popular Force party and daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, remains ahead in the race with 17% of the vote, or 2,877,678 votes.

The first round proved decisive for second place, with a tight race between candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga of the Popular Renewal Party and Roberto Sanchez of the Together for Peru party.

As of May 15, Sanchez had edged ahead of Aliaga, securing 12.031% of the vote, or 2,015,114 votes. The narrow margin placed him ahead of the conservative candidate, who finished the first round with 1,993,904 votes, or 11.904% of the total.

The first round of the general elections was marked by several irregularities and delays that ultimately extended voting by an additional day, along with allegations of fraud and investigations involving presidential candidates.

Aliaga had made strong allegations of fraud, claiming the elections had been rigged to remove him from the race amid the reported irregularities, and called for the elections to be annulled. However, Aliaga and the Popular Renewal Party later accepted the first-round results and pledged to fight in Congress to “dismantle this criminal organization that puts democracy and freedom at risk.”

Although Sanchez is emerging as the likely contender to advance to the runoff alongside Fujimori, Peru’s Attorney General’s Office continues its investigation against him for alleged campaign fund embezzlement and has requested a prison sentence of up to five years.

“That investigation began back in 2018, and I was accused of personally misusing party funds. And what has the judiciary said after five or six years? The case has been shelved. The fraud charges in my case have been dismissed,” Sanchez said.

The electoral body will officially announce on May 17 the candidates advancing to the runoff, which is scheduled for June 7.