Far-right businessman and former mayor of the Peruvian capital Rafael López Aliaga, 65, and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of authoritarian former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), head of a right-wing faction, 50, are reportedly heading for a showdown in the second round of the presidential election in June, as secure the highest percentages, based on the first results of the vote which took place yesterday in the Andean state.
Mr López Aliaga is now reportedly in first place, securing 20.4% of the vote, while Ms Fujimori is now second, with 17.1%, after 20% of the votes cast in the sometimes chaotic process were counted.
The exits wanted the daughter of former President Fujimori – who was jailed after being convicted of corruption and crimes against humanity – to stand in front.
The process was marred by procedural problems, particularly in the distribution of election materials, prompting authorities to announce that many of them would reopen today.
Police raids, mileage queues and fraud complaints
At least 15 polling stations did not open due to problems in the delivery of electoral materials, leaving some 63,000 citizens unable to vote, the national electoral process agency (ONPE) said. The National Electoral Court (JNE) thus announced that many – it did not specify exactly how many – will reopen today, from 07:00 (15:00 Greek time) to 18:00 (02:00 Tuesday).
Participation in elections is mandatory in the Latin American country.
Police and prosecutors raided ONPE’s offices earlier yesterday as part of an “investigation” they announced they were carrying out.
The vote was marked by huge queues and public outrage at polling stations, some of which were never opened, as well as – unsubstantiated – allegations of “fraud”.
Institutes Ipsos and Datum have discounted that a second round will need to be held on June 7 to elect the next president. In addition to the two conservative politicians who are ahead, the candidate of the radical left, Roberto Sánchez, was considered to have a chance of making it to the second round.
“There is no possibility of fraud,” Piero Corveto, the head of ONPE, countered the protests, “we absolutely guarantee that the results will faithfully reflect the will of the people.”
The former mayor of the capital, López Aliaga, spoke during a press conference earlier about “serious electoral fraud”, calling for “citizen mobilization”.
“The executive branch fulfilled in a strict and responsible manner its constitutional duty to guarantee order, security and protection of the electoral material,” the Peruvian presidency said for its part.
A protester in front of the ONPE headquarters, Karina Herrera, complained that “there was no guarantee of a clean process (…) There is no other word than fraud”.
There was a strong police presence in the area.
The election, which featured an unprecedented number of presidential candidates (35), took place against the backdrop of a rise in crime and a rejection of the political order by a large proportion of citizens in recent years.
More than 27 million voters were called to the polls in the Andean state to elect, in addition to the president, the members of parliament, which – for the first time since the 1990s – will once again have two bodies, the House and the Senate.
Law and order
“We will vote for the one we prefer in the presidential elections”, but “we know” that he will only take power “for a limited time”, and not the 5-year term envisaged, since “Congress will end up deposing him”, Rocio del Rio, 57, told AFP characteristically after voting in Lima.
Of the eight presidents elected in Peru since 2016, half have been ousted by Congress, and politicians are now viewed with increasingly widespread distrust, largely due to countless corruption scandals.
Four former heads of state are currently in prison.
With the country mired in heightened insecurity, candidates have floated radical proposals ranging from building prisons in the jungle surrounded by venomous reptiles to giving police officers bonuses for killing criminals and reinstating the death penalty.
Homicides have more than doubled since 2018, reaching around 2,600 annually, while extortion complaints have increased eightfold, according to police figures.
During a pre-election interview with AFP, Ms. Fujimori promised a campaign to deport illegal immigrants and attract American investment, assured to “restore order” in 100 days — and even to join Peru in a wave of right-wing governments in Latin America, with undivided support and much to the delight of US President Donald Trump.
The outgoing caretaker president of the left, José María Balcasar, by definition could not run in the elections. He will hand over power to the winner of the election on July 28.
