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LIMA, July 20 — Peru’s elections jury said yesterday it would announce the winner of June 6 presidential elections this week, after finalising a review of challenges lodged against the vote count.
The body did not give an exact date. An official of the jury had earlier said it would likely happen today.
According to the vote count, leftist rural school teacher Pedro Castillo had received 50.12 per cent of the ballots cast more than a month ago — some 44,000 more than his rightwing rival Keiko Fujimori.
Fujimori, who faces an imminent corruption trial unless she becomes president, challenged thousands of votes before the elections jury or JNE, claiming fraud.
Fujimori has hinted she would not accept the result. Her backers have called for new elections to be held, and she has urged President Francisco Sagasti to seek an international audit of the vote.
The JNE tweeted yesterday that it had finalised the review and will now prepare for the proclamation.
“The JNE will proceed to the immediate organisation of the ceremony” to announce the result, it added. The ceremony will take place “this week.”
The new president is due to be sworn in on July 28, the day Sagasti’s interim term comes to an end.
Peruvians voted for their fifth president in three years after a series of crises and corruption scandals saw three different leaders in office in a single week last November.
Seven of the country’s last 10 leaders have either been convicted or are under investigation for graft.
Prosecutors have said they would seek a 30-year jail term for Fujimori on charges of taking money from scandal-tainted Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to fund failed presidential bids in 2011 and 2016.
Under Peruvian law, the case against Fujimori will be suspended if she becomes president until after her term. — AFP
