Peru race tightens again amid market volatility as overseas, rural ballots pour in

Alexander Villegas and Marco Aquino

LIMA, June 9 (Reuters) – Peruvian conservative Keiko Fujimori edged closer to the lead of leftist Roberto Sanchez on Tuesday, while observers said rural votes could still be in Sanchez’s favor, according to Reuters.

Peru’s main stock index rose 5.65% on Tuesday morning, while U.S.-listed shares of Peruvian stocks such as miner Buenaventura rose 1.8% and Intercorp Financial Services rose 12.2%; iShares MSCI Peru and ​Global Exposure ETF rose 4.6%.

The local sol currency also rose 2.4% to 3.39 against the dollar.

The rise is largely due to a reversal of a sharp selloff on Friday after Sanchez surged in the polls, shaking markets and investors with proposals to revive Peru’s mining-heavy economy.

He advocated reform of the constitution, the imposition of windfall taxes, a wealth tax and reform of mining concessions, a popular platform among the country’s rural voters. His rival ⁠Fujimori drew on the tough-on-crime legacy of his father, Alberto Fujimori, the authoritarian former president of Peru who was imprisoned for human rights abuses linked to massacres during his tenure.

Fujimori was ahead in exit polls and early counting, but Sanchez gained ground as votes poured in from Peru’s rural regions on Sunday and Monday. Sanchez’s lead grew to nearly 50,000 votes on Monday, but fell to 20,000 as votes abroad continued to be counted.

Sanchez currently leads with 50.06% to Fujimori’s 49.94% with 95.98% of the votes counted. Alfredo Torres, president of pollster Ipsos, said the remaining votes in rural areas were in Sanchez’s favor, while the bulk of the outstanding votes came from outside the country in favor of Fujimori.

Approximately 1.67% of ballots were marked for review. Most come from the Lima metropolitan area, which also supports Fujimori.

“If we do the math, it’s possible that the numbers we’re seeing now could be reversed,” Torres told a local radio station.

Both candidates called for patience and for 100 percent of the votes to be counted. Peru’s ONPE electoral authority said a full count is expected in July.

“There is a lot of hope, especially in foreign votes and contested votes because most of them come from the capital, where we have the most support,” Fujimori told reporters on Tuesday. “But I think it’s too early to declare the winner.”

At a news conference Tuesday, party representatives for Sanchez’s party, Together for Peru, reiterated that all votes should be counted and said outstanding votes in rural areas still give Sanchez a chance to win the presidency.

In his speech over the weekend, Sanchez said he aimed to answer the call of the popular movement for justice and the standard of democracy.

“As a peaceful people, as a people who respect the electoral process, we will march according to the official results, but today we are convinced of the support of the popular movement,” he said.

(Reporting by Alexander Villegas and Marco Aquino; Editing by Aurora Ellis)