Peru: Keiko Fujimori attacks democracy | His maneuver to wrest victory from Pedro Castillo failed

From Lima

Defeat at the polls and his maneuvers failed to wrest victory from rural professor and leftist trade unionist Pedro Castillo with unfounded allegations of electoral fraud, Right-wing Keiko Fujimori shoots democracy and stability of the next government. In a clear coup stance, the daughter of jailed ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori, who, failing to win the presidency, will face a trial for money laundering and criminal organization, said she did not would not recognize the result of the elections and the proclamation of the new president. Keiko launched the threat when the National Election Jury (JNE) is expected to proclaim Castillo president-elect this week, which is more than a month late, something unprecedented, due to Fujimorismo’s demands to cancel votes in rural areas, where the Andean-born teacher largely won, alleging alleged fraud in these voting tables. Son complaints without proof. All of Fujimori’s claims were rejected by the JNE for lack of support. The electoral jury announced that the examination of these applications must be completed no later than this week, after which would be given the proclamation of Castillo, who must assume this July 28.

The rage of defeat

“We are not going to accept it,” Keiko shouted in front of his supporters, anger at the defeat marked on his face, referring to Castillo’s proclamation as president-elect. “We are not going to sit idly by. The party is not over, ”said the three times defeated presidential candidate threateningly. -He also lost in 2011 and 2016-, in a concentration of his supporters, mobilized to put pressure on the electoral authorities so that the triumph of Castillo is not formalized.

“No to communism. Outside of communism,” Keiko exclaimed in front of protesters in denial of the triumph of the left. In today’s Fujimori protests claiming fraud without proof and launching attacks against the left , coup speeches and authoritarian expressions from the far right abound which seeks to annul the elections won by the left. They are shouting “let’s defend the vote”, but they demand the cancellation of the votes of the winner in order to achieve the victory.

A fraud report without proof

Right-wing baseless denunciations of alleged electoral fraud resonate in mainstream media and they mobilize residents of residential neighborhoods. Despite a million dollar campaign and media support for the fraudulent false speech, only 13% of the population claim that there was fraud in favor of Castillo, according to an Ipsos poll.

Fujimori and his allies insist on demanding an audit of the Organization of American States (OAS) elections. They have no serious argument to justify this request. They know that this audit will not take place – the OAS observation mission described the elections as clean and a few days ago Keiko’s emissaries sent to the international body to request this audit mocked not to be received by their secretary general Luis Almagro-, but it is the excuse to say that without this audit they will not recognize the triumph of Castillo.

All election observers, the United States Department of State, the European Union, governments in the region, including Argentina, among others, have declared the Peruvian elections legitimate.. No international body or government interviewed them.

In the midst of this loneliness, Fujimori’s great ally in international forums is the Nobel Prize for Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, who has put himself at the service of the false account of electoral fraud and the coup maneuvers against Castillo. A few days ago, the writer accused the centrist government of President Francisco Sagasti of having “clearly sided” with leftist Castillo and denied the legitimacy of the elected president. A statement that falls into self-interested fiction to distort reality and mold it according to the interests of Fujimori and his allies. Keiko repeated the writer’s script, accusing Sagasti of being biased towards Castillo to justify his refusal to admit defeat. The Sagasti regime maintained scrupulous neutrality in these elections.

Keiko’s allies have publicly promoted a coup to overturn the elections. They failed to achieve their goal and are now plotting against the next government. These days, a right-wing maneuver to imprison the Castillo regime has failed in Congress. The intention of right-wing parliamentary groups to appoint new judges to the Constitutional Court (TC) to take over the country’s highest judicial body has been thwarted as the necessary votes of two-thirds of lawmakers have not been achieved. There is a lawsuit to annul the elections which was rejected for lack of legal basis, but which on appeal could reach the TC as a last resort. The law was for a decision on this lawsuit to be made by a court based on its interests. The TC can block laws and government policies by declaring them unconstitutional.

Six of the seven magistrates of the TC have fulfilled their mandate and must be replaced. A few months ago, the discredited outgoing Congress decided that his appointment would be made by the new Parliament which is due to take office this month. But after the April elections, they resumed the process of electing TC members and sped it up when Castillo won the second round, seeking to ensure a TC suited to this right. The process of selecting court candidates was marked by irregularities and illegalities, for which a court ordered the voting to be stopped. But a majority of lawmakers decided to flout the court order and proceed with the election, which they were sure to win. But at the time of the vote its candidates did not reach the two thirds, 87 votes out of 130, which they needed. The candidate who received the most support received 81 votes. A difficult defeat for the right wing. The renewal of the MOT is pending.

As Keiko and the right wing who support his plot against Castillo’s triumph and prepare to go to war against him from the first day of his government, the rural schoolteacher who is still awaiting his proclamation as president-elect, meets his collaborators to set up his ministerial cabinet and define his first actions in power, and he maintains meetings with social organizations, unions and local authorities. His supporters are mobilized to defend his victory. In front of the premises of the Electoral Jury, in the center of Lima, inhabitants of the interior of the country have set up a camp pending the formalization of the triumph of the teacher in which they have placed their hopes for change.