Left-wing candidate Sanchez climbs to second place in Peru vote count / Photo: © AFP
Left-wing candidate Sanchez climbs to second place in Peru vote count
Left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez climbed to second place in Peru's presidential election on Wednesday, positioning himself to face conservative Keiko Fujimori in a June runoff, while his nearest challenger threatened protests over alleged voter fraud.
With more than 90 percent of ballots tallied, the daughter of divisive former President Alberto Fujimori has garnered nearly 17 percent of the vote, followed by Sanchez with 12 percent. Ultraconservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga was third with 11.9 percent.
Sunday's election ran into Monday in parts of the capital Lima because of delays in the delivery of ballots and other materials.
Sanchez had been steadily gaining ground in the vote count since Tuesday. His late rise appeared to be driven by strong support in Andean regions, where votes have taken longer to be processed.
"We are proceeding calmly, with composure, we are confident in the support of our people...The ballot papers do not lie," Sanchez said.
Lopez Aliaga, meanwhile, alleged voter fraud and threatened major protests if the results are not annulled.
"I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void," Lopez Aliaga, a fan of US President Donald Trump, said Tuesday, surrounded by hundreds of supporters. "If it is not declared null and void tomorrow, I will call for a nationwide protest."
- Eight presidents in a decade -
A record 35 candidates ran for president of the chronically unstable Andean nation, which has had eight presidents in the past 10 years, including four who were impeached.
The campaign was dominated by promises to tackle a surge in extortion and contract killings, and disillusionment with a political class widely seen as ineffectual and corrupt.
With no candidate winning the 50 percent of votes needed for outright victory, a second round of voting is planned in June.
Tens of thousands of people were unable to cast a ballot on Sunday because election materials arrived late or not at all.
Several polling stations reopened on Monday to allow voters to have their say.
Political scientist Eduardo Dargent told AFP the logistics mess had "given arguments...to several people who will cry fraud or worse if they are not happy with the result."
Lopez Aliaga, a Christian nationalist widely known as "Porky" over his self-professed resemblance to cartoon character Porky Pig, campaigned as a hardliner on crime and migration.
He suggested building penal colonies in the Amazon rainforest, surrounded by a "natural fence" of vipers.
- Sowing doubt -
Some voters told AFP the electoral chaos undermined their faith in the democratic process.
"We don't know if the results are true," said Yeraldine Garrido, a 35-year-old receptionist in Lima.
"It's been a major democratic failure," said 60-year-old Luis Gomez, who is self-employed.
Police have detained one election official and raided a private contractor blamed for failing to deliver election materials on time.
The head of the European Union's election observer mission, Annalisa Corrado, said her team found no evidence of fraud.
F.Harris--TNT
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