It’s an exceptionally tight race between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori of the Popular Force party and Roberto Sánchez of leftist coalition Together for Peru.
Supporters of Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori celebrate after the results of the second round of elections in Lima, Peru, on Sunday. Preliminary results shows Fujimori has a razor-thin lead.Photo by Renato Pajuelo/EPA
Preliminary results from Sunday’s presidential runoff election in Peru showed an exceptionally tight race between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori of the Popular Force party and Roberto Sánchez of leftist coalition Together for Peru.
Wwith 93% of ballots counted, Fujimori held a narrow lead with 50.08% of the vote compared with 49.92% for Sánchez, according to figures released Monday by the National Office of Electoral Processes.
Official results showed Fujimori won the majority of votes in Lima and major urban centers along Peru’s northern coast, while Sánchez secured strong support in the Andean south, the Amazon region and rural areas across the country.
Amid the razor-thin margin, officials from Peru’s National Jury of Elections and both candidates urged calm as the count continues.
An initial quick count based on a representative sample of polling stations had projected a narrow victory for Sánchez on Sunday night, giving him a lead of just 0.6 percentage points, sccording to local media reports.
Speaking from a balcony in Lima’s historic downtown district, Sánchez celebrated the preliminary outcome and said it marked “the day democracy is recovered.”
Fujimori, meanwhile, called for caution.
“We are in a statistical tie. At this moment there is no winner in this race. These will be long days. … Whatever the result, we will respect it,” she said.
Authorities expect the review of challenged ballots, the arrival of election materials from remote Amazon communities and the processing of overseas votes, where nearly 1 million Peruvians are registered to vote, to delay the official declaration of a winner for several more days.
More than 1,500 tally sheets nationwide remain under review by Special Electoral Juries, the bodies responsible for resolving electoral disputes.
Franco Olcese, a political scientist at the Wiñaq Center, said the outcome of those challenges could prove decisive.
“This could be very important. The rate of challenges and the geographic distribution of those tally sheets matter. If more come from Lima, the south or the coast, that could tilt the result one way or another. The work of party observers will be fundamental in monitoring the count,” Olcese told RPP Noticias.
The National Office of Electoral Processes publishes the official runoff count in real time, but reaching 100% of ballots counted does not automatically produce an officially declared president.
The process must still go through a series of reviews, rulings and formal certifications involving the Special Electoral Juries and the National Jury of Elections.
The first round, held April 12, underscored Peru’s fragmented political landscape. Among 35 presidential candidates, Fujimori finished first with about 17.2% of the vote, followed by Sánchez with roughly 12%.
The count from the first round took nearly 15 days to complete, fueling uncertainty and allegations of electoral fraud that continue to shape the political environment.
Peru has experienced nearly a decade of political instability, cycling through eight presidents over the past 10 years amid institutional crises, protests and declining public trust. Crime and corruption dominated this year’s presidential campaign.
