Fujimori leads Sánchez by 40,000 votes as Peru election week begins

Keiko Fujimori, the right-wing candidate, holds a slim lead of 40,818 votes over her left-wing rival Roberto Sánchez in Peru's presidential election runoff. With 99.691% of the votes tallied, the final outcome hinges on a week of crucial ballot reviews.

Official figures from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) show Fujimori with 50.111% of the valid votes, compared to Sánchez's 49.889%. This translates to 9,188,704 votes for Fujimori's Popular Force party against 9,147,886 for Sánchez's Peru Libre party.

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Now we can say, and in a few days, we did it!

The remaining 287 ballots are subject to challenges by electoral judges. Each ballot can contain up to 300 votes, meaning approximately 86,000 votes are still to be accounted for. This small margin could determine the election's final result or at least solidify Fujimori's advantage.

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We can now say, and in a few days, we did it! We are facing five years of great challenges, but I am sure that with God's blessing, work, and the unity of all Peruvians, we will move forward.

Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, signaled her imminent victory, stating, "We can now say, and in a few days, we did it!" She anticipates "five years of great challenges" but expressed confidence in overcoming them through "God's blessing, work, and the unity of all Peruvians."

Sánchez, however, is pinning his hopes on annulling the votes cast by Peruvians abroad, citing alleged irregularities in the chain of custody for those ballots. Electoral authorities had previously rejected a similar request to annul nearly 2,000 ballot boxes from Lima and overseas locations. International election observers have not identified significant irregularities or signs of fraud in the voting process.

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the process has not yet ended