Foreign voting records arrive in Peru, key to defining tight ballot between Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Castillo

the Election records with the votes of Peruvians living abroad began arriving in the country on Tuesday continue with meticulous examination which marks that Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori are only separated by a few tenths of a percentage.

The counting trend, which is in order of arrival, has taken several directions. The first votes, coming from large urban centers, favored the right-wing candidate, while the left-wing leader took the advantage with votes from rural areas. Now Fujimori hopes to reduce the distance with the support of Peruvians abroad.

Some of these reports, coming from countries with few voting tables, had already been counted by the electorate, because they were entered from the place of origin. But Most of the documents, coming from countries like Spain and the United States in diplomatic bags, have just been loaded on Tuesday.

Almost a million Peruvians were allowed to vote outside the country, although the turnout was around 35%, so more than 300,000 voters voted abroad on Sunday.

In the United States for example, with 64% of cases processed, Fujimori won with 78% of the valid votes, but the turnout was much lower than expected by Fuerza Popular: only 28% of qualified Peruvians voted.

Authorities also confirmed an incident involving North American votes. In an audio viral on the networks, a consular official expressed his wish that the minutes favor Fujimori. Therefore, they changed the person in charge of the transfer of documents to ensure impartiality.

With him 95.7% of the total of the tally sheets, Pedro Castillo has 50.2% of the valid votes, more than 49.77% of his rival, a distance of almost 80 thousand votes. But it remains to count nearly half of the votes cast abroad, largely in favor. Fujimori, who would add around 50,000 more votes than his rival in this segment.

In this way, the distance would be reduced to 30 thousand votes, although a small segment of rural votes is also on hold.

Subsequently, the definition of over 1,300 minutes (over 300,000 votes) examined by the national election jury for various challenges. This is a “normal” number, if we take into account the fact that in the 2016 election, there were 1,270 contested minutes.

If no further observations and objections are registered, this week would end with the registration for the counting of votes abroad.

“No one can say for sure who will win at this point“Fernando Tuesta, political scientist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and former director of the ONPE, told local radio RPP. Mathematically, the Castillo difference is traceable.

Keiko Fujimori placed his hopes in Monday’s foreign vote: “We hope that with the recount of these minutes, the vote will be equal.” But he also denounced certain irregularities on the part of Peru Libre officials, alluding to possible fraud, without proof of generalized behavior.

The Organization of American States (OAS) Election Observation Mission said shortly before Fujimori’s complaint that “the count was conducted according to official procedures,” approving the work of the ONPE.

The poll seems far from ending the political convulsions of the past five years, which have led Peru to have four presidents since 2018, including three in five days in November 2020.

Peru’s partial vote map showed a country split in two. Castillo overwhelmingly dominated the impoverished rural areas of the Andes and much of the Amazon. For her part, Fujimori was the candidate of the business elite, dominating the capital by taking nearly a third of the population, and other cities on the Pacific coast.

Cities hardest hit by Shining Path terrorism during the 1980-2000 internal war, which left nearly 70,000 dead, voted for Castillo. This was an unfavorable outcome for Fujimori, who during the campaign accused the professor of having links with the criminal group, but did not present evidence.

Regions where international capital miners seek to develop extractive projects also voted almost entirely for the left. In the poorest district of the country, Uchuraccay, the teacher received 87% of the vote, while in the richest district, San Isidro, Fujimori won with 88%.

The new president will take office on July 28 in a country that has the highest death rate in the world due to the pandemic, with more than 186,000 deaths among 33 million inhabitants.

(With information from AP, EFE, AFP)

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