Keiko Fujimori has climbed to second place and is on his way to contest the ballot in Peru

Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori was confident of entering the second round in Peru as Sunday’s ballot progresses, which has so far confirmed leftist Pedro Castillo’s advantage.

The candidate started the day in fourth place, but the lead in the count, which included more votes away from crosses, favored her until reaching second place (13.1%). Thus, with 70% of the polls scrutinized, he overtook the ultra-conservative businessman Rafael López Aliaga (12.5%) and the liberal economist Hernando de Soto (12.9%).

“I am convinced that our passage to the second round will be confirmed in the coming hours,” Fujimori said Sunday evening in a video dedicated to Fujimori activism. And it is that trust has been placed in the quick count of minutes carried out by IPSOS, a method which usually has great precision and which gives him 14.5% of the votes, with a sufficient advantage over López Aliaga (11.9 %) and De Soto (10.8%).

For his part, Castillo, who only burst into the ballot box in the last two weeks, easily leads both the rapid count estimates (18.1%) and the actual vote count (17.1% with 52% of the vote).

As for his rivals, De Soto has taken a cautious stance. “I want the numbers to be clearer and that I can say what my approach is in this regard. It is obvious that the margin is very narrow, ”he told reporters at the entrance to his house.

Instead, López Aliaga, who before the vote had spread unfounded versions of fraud, blasted: “They will not steal this election from us”. Confronted with the opposing exit points, he replied: “This is bullshit that is useless (…). We are reviewing the minutes, all over Peru we are sweeping. Here, we will do a detailed account ”.

Given the expected accuracy of the count, Fujimori has already done everything possible to suggest that De Soto “work together” to confront the “radical left” represented by Castillo. “Beyond the differences we have, there are also big coincidences,” said the candidate before noting that between them “it doesn’t matter who makes it to the second round. I hope we can work together”.

Keiko also built bridges with other parties who “don’t want (the country) to become Cuba or Venezuela”. “We are going to face populism and the radical left, there will be a lot of Peruvians who are going to join,” Fujimori said.

The third time is the charm?

The heir to the former autocrat Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) would thus reach her third ballot, after the defeats against Ollanta Humala (2011) and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016). She is one of the most “anti-voting” candidates, those citizens who ensure they would never vote for her, but the scenario ahead is one of extreme polarization.

The leader of Fuerza Popular appeared on the occasion with an authoritarian right-wing proposal, justifying the presidency of her father, imprisoned for human rights violations and who has already declared that he intends to forgive if he arrives at the government palace, and bet on applying “hard hand” to solve the problems of Peruvians.

Fujimori is accused of the crime of money laundering linked to the alleged illegal financing of his party’s campaigns in 2011 and 2016 by the Brazilian company Odebrecht, among others.

Election day unfolded in a complicated situation, with the COVID-19 pandemic breaking records of deaths and infections and the country plunged into a deep economic crisis. Added to this is a delay in opening a large number of polling stations due to the non-appearance of designated members of the polling stations.

Although almost all of the tables were eventually able to receive votes, they did so almost five hours after the appointed date and this generated long lines and crowds, in addition to exposing older, disabled women. and pregnant who, precisely because of the antivirus security protocols, had been called to vote early.

More than 25 million Peruvians were called to vote in these elections, which are compulsory for all citizens between the ages of 18 and 70.

(With information from EFE)

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