Keiko Fujimori secures unbeatable lead in Peru presidential election

Written by: Marco Aquino and Alexander Villegas

LIMA, June 24 (Reuters) – Conservative Keiko Fujimori claimed an insurmountable lead in Peru’s presidential runoff election late on Tuesday, putting her on track to assume the presidency.

Fujimori, a four-time presidential candidate and the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, currently has 50.11% of the vote, ahead of leftist rival Roberto Sanchez by 43,386 votes. There are only 40,213 potential votes left to be counted, according to data from Peru’s ONPE electoral authority.

The electoral authority has yet to officially declare the winner and plans to do so in mid-July.

Fujimori’s expected victory deepened Latin America’s rightward slide after outsider Abelardo ⁠De La Espriella was elected in Colombia on Sunday. Voters concerned about crime flocked to hard-line candidates.

Earlier Tuesday, Sanchez claimed without providing evidence that “fraud is going on” and said he would refuse to recognize the election results, raising the possibility of a protracted political crisis in Peru.

Sanchez had requested the annulment of thousands of votes cast abroad, mostly in favor of Fujimori, but Peru’s national election jury rejected the request on Tuesday night.

The second round results were postponed due to the review of contested ballot papers, the late arrival of ballot papers from abroad and the very narrow difference between the candidates.

Fujimori is set to inherit a country that has seen eight presidents over as many years and is plagued by sharp economic disparities between the capital and rural areas, as well as politicians’ disillusionment.

None of the eight former presidents completed their term. Three were impeached and one resigned just six days later. Four former presidents are now in prison, and Fujimori’s late father spent 16 years in prison for human rights abuses during his decade-long rule in the 1990s.

Fujimori, who had previously distanced himself from his father’s legacy, rode this election by portraying himself as a strong leader best able to maintain order and stability as voters grapple with rising rates of extortion and murder.

(Reporting by Marco Aquino, Alexander Villegas and Leon Ramirez; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Edwina Gibbs)