MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Sánchez overtakes Fujimori in Peru count with 95% tallied; overseas vote still to come

Fujimori lost ground decimal by decimal as tally sheets arrived from rural and Andean areas, where Sánchez performs best

Leftist Roberto Sánchez moved ahead in the count of Peru's presidential runoff, in an election being decided vote by vote. With about 95% of the tally sheets processed by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Sánchez had around 50.1% of the vote, against 49.9% for conservative Keiko Fujimori, a lead of some 41,000 ballots. The result, however, is not final: the votes of Peruvians abroad, historically favorable to the right, have yet to be counted.

Fujimori had led the count in the early hours thanks to support in Lima, one of her strongholds, but lost ground decimal by decimal as tally sheets arrived from rural and Andean areas, where Sánchez performs best. About 4,700 tally sheets remain to be processed, including those from abroad and from remote regions such as the Amazonian Loreto.

The outcome could hinge on the overseas vote, whose count had not yet begun and whose tally sheets will finish arriving on Wednesday. More than a million Peruvians were eligible to vote outside the country; in the first round, just over 400,000 did so, mostly favoring the right. The executive president of the pollster Ipsos, Alfredo Torres, warned that, despite Sánchez's partial lead, most of his internal projections give the win to Fujimori, since the current count “includes almost nothing of the foreign vote.”

Fujimori, who is running for president for the fourth time after losing the runoffs of 2011, 2016 and 2021, called for waiting for the full count. “Every tally sheet is going to be very important. What is called for right now is patience and a lot of serenity,” she said, adding that she would respect the result “whatever it is.” The candidate, who in 2021 did not concede defeat to Pedro Castillo and alleged fraud she never proved, this time summoned more than a hundred legal representatives to scrutinize each tally sheet.

The narrow margin already had regional repercussions: Colombian President Gustavo Petro prematurely celebrated a Sánchez victory and announced he would resume relations with Peru. Electoral authorities have warned that the official proclamation of the winner could take weeks, because of challenges and a counting system that requires each tally sheet to be taken to processing offices.

Sánchez, of Juntos por el Perú and an ally of the jailed Castillo —whom he has promised to pardon— is contesting the presidency with Fujimori, daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, convicted of crimes against humanity and corruption. The winner will take office on July 28, in a country that has had nine presidents in a decade and where insecurity is the main public concern.