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The Secretary-General of the National Jury of Elections (JNE), Peru’s highest electoral justice authority, Yessica Clavijo, has announced that results from the first round of Peru’s presidential election won’t be released until mid-May.
“We expect to have the presidential results, which is what we need to determine the runoff candidates, by around mid-May,” Clavijo said on radio broadcaster RPP.
35 candidates contested the election, which was reportedly marred by delays in delivering election materials, forcing authorities to extend voting into Monday in parts of the capital Lima.
Keiko Fujimori was leading with 17% from the 93.4% of ballots counted from last Sunday’s election.
The top two candidates from the election will contest a runoff. A close race has, however, emerged for a spot in the next round between leftist Roberto Sanchez, who received 12% of the vote, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga, with 11.9%.
According to Clavijo, the slow vote count is due to over 15,000 challenged ballots, about 30% of which involve the presidential vote and the remainder relate to legislative elections.
The slow vote count has been criticised by many, including Lopez Aliaga, the former mayor of the capital Lima, who has called for the vote to be annulled. Aliaga also urged his supporters to rally on Sunday in protest.
