Peru: Fujimori leads chaotic election as electoral officials face investigation

Peruvians woke up Monday awaiting the results of a first presidential round marked by chaos and uncertainty. After an election day affected by logistical delays, electoral authorities were facing criminal investigations as the count moved forward at an extremely slow pace.

With more than half of the votes counted, Keiko Fujimori—the conservative Fuerza Popular candidate and daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori—was leading with around 17% of the vote, according to a preliminary tally from the electoral authority, cited by AFP, with 57% of ballots processed.

About 50,000 people were unable to vote on Sunday in several districts of Lima due to delays in setting up polling places, prompting authorities to extend voting at those points until Monday.

The fight for second place, which would define the rival in the second round scheduled for June, was extremely tight. The authorities warned that the final results could take several days to be known.

López Aliaga toughens immigration debate

In that dispute is Rafael López Aliaga, former mayor of Lima and candidate of Renovación Popular, who accumulated about 14% of the vote. Lopez Aliaga has proposed hard-line measures, including "hunting" irregular migrants and has proposed isolated prisons in the Amazon.

Peru is experiencing a strong wave of criminal violence, which has become the biggest concern for voters. According to AFP, since 2018 the number of homicides has doubled and reports of extortion have increased eightfold.

The left calls for a rewrite of the country's foundations

At least two other candidates remain statistically tied with López Aliaga in the race for a spot in the runoff. Among them is leftist Roberto Sánchez, a 57-year-old former trade minister, who was also polling at similar levels.

Precisely on Monday, Sanchez was optimistic and declared that he was ready "to begin the refoundation of the country," a process that, in his words, would necessarily involve drafting "a new constitution."

Sanchez has also announced that he will push for a purge at the top of the police and the annulment of a set of laws passed by Congress that, he claims, favor criminal activity.

Serious flaws in the handling of voting material

The National Jury of Elections, the highest electoral justice body, filed a complaint on Monday against the head of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Piero Corvetto, and three other officials, accusing them of attacking the right to vote, obstructing the electoral act and omission of functions.

The complaint, to which AFP had access, alleges: "He did not inform in a timely manner about the magnitude of the lack of material, allowing the citizenship to remain in a state of total disinformation during most of the day."

The complaint, seen by AFP, states: "He failed to report in a timely manner on the magnitude of the shortage of materials, leaving the public in a state of total misinformation for most of the day."

A day earlier, police and prosecutors raided the ONPE headquarters in downtown Lima, where they collected documentation related to the contracting of the company in charge of supplying the electoral material.