LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s electoral tribunal on Monday set a deadline for officials to finish counting votes and name the candidates advancing to the second round in the nation's highly contested presidential election.
The tribunal said that Peru’s elections agency ONPE has until May 15 to publish full voting tallies and say which two candidates will participate in the second round.
More than 30 candidates participated in the April 12 election and the top
two contenders must go to a runoff on June 7, because none of the candidates garnered more than half of the votes.
However a razor thin margin currently separates the second and third place candidates, and the election was blighted with irregularities that forced authorities to open some voting stations in the capital city of Lima for an additional day.
Authorities in Peru are still sifting through tally sheets that are arriving from remote areas and also from the nation’s consulates overseas. Hundreds of tally sheets have been challenged by electoral observers and must now be reviewed by ONPE officials.
With 93.5% of votes counted conservative leader Keiko Fujimori is leading the election with 17.05% of the vote, and looks almost certain to enter the June runoff.
Roberto Sánchez, a nationalist congressman and former minister under imprisoned ex-President Pedro Castillo, comes in second place so far with 12% of the votes, but is closely followed by the ultraconservative former mayor of Lima, Rafael López Aliaiga, with 11.91% of the votes.
The winner will be Peru’s ninth president in just 10 years and will replace José María Balcázar, who was elected interim president in February. He replaced another interim leader who was ousted over corruption allegations just four months into his term.
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