Conservative Keiko Fujimori retook a razor-thin lead in Peru’s tight presidential runoff in its final stretch, as strong support from Peruvians living abroad put her within a hair of winning the country’s top job.
The market-friendly, tough-on-crime candidate has 50.002% of the vote, just inching past left-wing congressman Roberto Sánchez, with 98.2% of ballots tallied.
Exactly 561 votes separate the two in a country of 34 million people. Experts say the trend will likely be irreversible even if Sánchez temporarily retakes the lead. That’s because over half of the votes yet to be counted are disputed ballots from the capital, Lima, where Fujimori is winning by a wide margin.
“I think it’s no longer reversible,” said political analyst Eduardo Dargent.
Peru’s sol gained 0.6% against the dollar on Thursday and dollar bonds edged higher, according to indicative pricing data compiled by Bloomberg. A full official count isn’t expected until July when those challenged votes, which could represent roughly half a million ballots, are set to be adjudicated.
“The margin is going to be very close,” said Guillermo Loli, senior director at pollster Ipsos Peru, but Sánchez “no longer has many ways left to fight.”
After finishing second in the past three presidential elections, the daughter of late former President Alberto Fujimori may take over one of the world’s most volatile public offices. Peru has had nine presidents in the past decade. Her victory would also add to a growing list of right-wing leaders who have risen in Latin America with the support of Donald Trump, from Chile’s José Antonio Kast and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa to Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz.
Peru’s next president will take office next month for a five-year term as head of the copper-rich nation. But with the election result so close, political tensions are unlikely to dissipate any time soon, Eileen Gavin, principal Americas analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said in a note.
“The legitimacy of whoever takes office on 28 July will be heavily contested, and the country’s febrile and polarized domestic political atmosphere will remain unresolved,” she said.
| Read more |
|---|
| Peru’s Diaspora Emerges as Tie-Breaker in Razor-Edge Race |
| Peru Official Vote Results Due Over a Month After Runoff |
| Peru’s Perennial Presidential Loser Is Getting Her Best Shot Yet |