© REUTERS / Sebastian CastanedaPedro Castillo addresses supporters from the headquarters of his party.
"The people have spoken," Castillo told supporters late on Tuesday in front of his Peru Libre party's headquarters. He was speaking before the official count in last Sunday's second-round vote was finished, but it was pointing to his imminent victory. With over 99% of the votes counted, he led by a small margin of around 70,000 votes.
"Based on information from our electoral observers, we now have the party's official count, and the people have made this gesture, which we salute. For this reason, I also ask you not to react to provocation," Castillo said.
The politician was referring to the allegations made by his right-wing opponent, who claimed on Monday that the election was stolen from her through fraud. She didn't produce any solid evidence to back her claim. Fujimori's supporters from the Peruvian business world reportedly plan to seek the annulment of some 100,000 votes cast for her opponent.
During her previous unsuccessful attempt to win the presidency in 2016, Fujimori likewise blamed irregularities for her opponent Pedro Pablo Kuczynski's win, after he beat her by a less than 1% margin. He was forced to resign in 2018 under pressure from the Fujimori-led opposition. His successor, Martin Vizcarra, was impeached twice and ultimately removed from office in 2020, with all members from Fujimori's Fuerza Popular party voting for conviction.
Fujimori's fraud claims were contradicted by both domestic and international observers. The monitor mission from the Organization of American States (OAS) congratulated Peru for holding a democratic and peaceful election and commended the election authorities for tackling the difficulties posed by Covid-19 epidemic.
Castillo's party condemned Fujimori and her supporters for spreading false claims and "promoting political and social instability of the country". The party asked supporters "to remain vigilant" and called on election officials to be "responsible and strict in fulfilling their functions and respecting the will of the people."
Reader Comments
Peruvians whether mestizo or pure euro blood can be quite prejudiced so it is amazing that she has become such a force in the country. Her now incarcerated father came to power as a result of the support from the Shining Path terrorized indigenous population in the rural areas. For many of them, he was the first president they ever saw in person. He had to fight dirty to win against the incredible savagery of the Shining Path. Look it up, they were far from a bunch of nice intelectual lefties or whatever. His economic policies led to an incredible sustained boom that even his critics have to admit was good. He was a populist even though the right-wing label has been attached to his name.
I found it interesting that my socialist (Allende's party) and previously exiled during Pinochet first landlord here in Chile was an admirer of Fujimori. Fuji did a lot to repair Peruvian and Chilean relations.
I am not familiar with their election system, but it is not like the all paper, open outcall with visual confirmation with all who want to watching and overlooking the count, drafting everyday voters for the process (vs. "volunteers" and other possibly compromised persons).
Just my observation:
I was watching the early morning returns when she had a 50.2% + lead with about 85% of the vote counted that suddenly began being chipped away at as each hour went by till it was mirror-like reversed. Kind of reminded me of the US 2020 late night/early morning swing that took Trump's lead away...they said it was because of the overseas vote...but Keiko had the support of the majority of Peruvian expats like for example 75% in the largest diaspora in the USA, 65% in Chile and also the majority in Argentina. And OAS claiming all is good, WTF, trust the OAS?
Again, just my observations, I could be wrong.
Whatever.