Peru’s polarised presidential runoff still too close to call

Left-wing Peruvian presidential candidate Pedro Castillo has taken a razor-thin but widening lead ahead of right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori on Tuesday, but the results of the highly polarised poll remain too close to call.

With over 96.42 percent of the vote counted as of 0448 GMT on Tuesday, Castillo edged in front of Fujimori with 50.29 percent support over her 49.71 percent.

The actual vote margin between Castillo and Fujimori is about 98,000, although it has been inching up.

On Monday, Fujimori on Monday raised allegations of “irregularities” and “signs of fraud” in the run-off polls.

“There is a clear intention to boycott the popular will,” said Fujimori, the daughter of the imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori.

At a press conference, she showed videos and photographs allegedly showing proof of counting irregularities.

Castillo’s Free Peru party called on election authorities to “protect the vote” as ballots are counted and published, while also rejecting the fraud allegations.

The count may take days to finalise, with more than a million expat votes yet to be processed.

Sunday’s run-off came amid years of political instability in Peru, which is also struggling to cope with surging COVID-19 infection and death rates and a related economic downturn. The country last week reported the highest coronavirus death rate per capita in the world.

“We’re not going to know (the winner) until the last vote” is counted, political scientist Jessica Smith told the AFP news agency.

“It’s still very unsure – the difference is too tight and we have to wait for the official result.”

As uncertainty over who would be the country’s next president mounted on Monday, the Lima stock market plunged and the sol dropped to a record low of 3.92 against the US dollar.

The close result could lead to days of uncertainty and tension, as the vote also underscores a sharp divide between the capital, Lima, and the nation’s rural hinterland that has propelled Castillo’s unexpected rise.

“All we want right now is democracy, that everything be democratic. That whoever wins, the other accepts it and doesn’t start any trouble,” Lili Rocha, a voter in Lima, told the Reuters news agency after some scuffles had broken out overnight.

Reporting from Lima on Monday, Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez said while the vote remained too close to call, Castillo appeared to be extending his lead over Fujimori.

“It will be won by very few votes,” Sanchez said about the contest, explaining that ballots cast from abroad may be key.

“At the beginning, it was said that two-thirds of those votes were going to help Fujimori, however, so far, the trend abroad is that one-third of those votes are favouring Keiko Fujimori and two-thirds Castillo,” she said.

Rural votes also will be very important, Sanchez added, and “will certainly help” Castillo because he campaigned widely in those parts of the country.

Meanwhile, supporters of Castillo, a teachers’ union leader, have been rallying outside his headquarters in Lima throughout the day on Monday. “The people here are in a celebratory mood, as you can imagine, because the numbers continue to give him the lead,” Sanchez said.

Monday was the first time since the partial official results began to be released late on Sunday that Castillo had moved in front, although the difference was razor-thin.

Both candidates have earlier promised to respect the results. But with new allegations by Fujimori, the level of uncertainty has also increased.

Fujimori, who is facing corruption allegations that she has denied, has pledged to maintain economic stability in Peru with “a mother’s firm hand”. Should she win, it is widely expected that she will pardon her father, who is now serving a prison term for rights abuses.

A champion for the poor, Castillo has promised to redraft the constitution to strengthen the role of the state and take a larger portion of profits from mining firms.

Many Peruvians had expressed frustration with the country’s political turmoil in the lead-up to the first round of voting in April.

Street vendor Natalia Flores told Reuters that she had not voted for either candidate on Sunday, but was hopeful that whoever won would do a good job.

“Whoever comes out ahead, I think they’ll have to do a good job because in Peru the issue of the pandemic is terrible for us economically. Work is unstable,” she said.

“Whether it’s Mr Castillo, or Ms Keiko (Fujimori), I hope they do a good job over the next five years.”