Nearly a month after Peru’s presidential election, the country’s electoral authority has yet to announce who will advance to the run-off election on June 7.

With 98.25% of the votes counted, right-wing Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, has secured first place, with 17.14% and nearly 2.8 million votes. Keiko has built her political base, known as Fujimorism, on a mix of conservatism and a heavy-handed approach, along with a radical neoliberal program (“Fujishock”).

However, since election day on April 12, much intrigue and controversy has been generated regarding who would come in second place. During the early hours of April 13, it seemed that the second place spot would be a contest between the former mayor of Lima, the far-right Rafael López Aliaga, and the right-wing Jorge Nieto Montesinos.

However, as votes began to come in from the Peruvian highlands – where the majority of the country’s poor population is concentrated – leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez Palomino began to climb in the rankings, currently sitting in second place with 12.03% of the vote.

Close behind is López Aliaga with 11.89%, who has stated that he would pay a large sum of money to anyone who could prove how an alleged fraud was carried out that, according to him, is robbing him of his chance to become president of Peru. He also demanded that the elections in Lima be repeated, a request denied by the electoral authority, which affirms that the runoff will take place on June 7 without fail.

For his part, Sánchez Palomino, a supporter of former President Pedro Castillo (who is currently imprisoned for attempting to convene a Constituent Assembly), asserts that he will be the winner of that long-awaited second-place finish. The leftist candidate has also vowed to free Castillo.

IT audit

The pressure from López Aliaga and a significant portion of the Peruvian right has had an effect. Because several of the vote tallies contain anomalies, the National Jury of Elections (JNE) “has decided to conduct a comprehensive and exhaustive IT audit of the first-round electoral process.”

However, no specific timeline has been set for this audit. The fact is that the JNE is running out of time, as it must release the official results of the first round of voting on May 15, which is putting increased pressure on the electoral institution.

Nevertheless, the JNE maintains that the audit, which will involve independent analysts, will help “strengthen the transparency, integrity, and reliability of the election results.”

“Threats against electoral authorities”

Some experts have pointed out that this decision aims to shield the JNE from possible political retaliation. On April 21, the home of the then-head of the National Office of Electoral Processes, Piero Corvetto, was raided by police, after which Corvetto resigned from his post.

In response, the OAS electoral mission stated that it “rejects threats against electoral authorities and urges the completion of the vote count.” It also noted that journalists and other individuals involved in the proper monitoring of the elections were the targets of threats.

“The [OAS Electoral Mission in Peru] considers it essential that the authorities focus their efforts on ensuring an efficient runoff election, in strict compliance with the current electoral calendar. In particular, it urgently calls on the electoral authorities to complete, as quickly as possible and in full compliance with the law, the final vote count, to proceed with the official declaration of the results of the first round of the presidential election and the determination of the political organizations that will participate in the runoff,” the multinational organization reported.

The current electoral crisis adds another layer to Peru’s years-long political crisis which has seen multiple presidents impeached, a parliamentary coup, an imprisoned president, mass protests, brutal repression, and instability that refuses to subside.

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