Peru elections: Castillo grabs slim lead as Fujimori alleges fraud

[Judi Lynn]

NEWS

A late surge of rural votes has propelled former schoolteacher Pedro Castillo past conservative rival Keiko Fujimori in Peru's presidential race, which remains too close to call.

Date 08.06.2021

Leftist candidate Pedro Castillo took a small lead in Peru's polarizing presidential runoff late Monday, but his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori refused to concede, alleging fraud.

According to the official count, the 51-year-old former schoolteacher has taken 50.29% of the vote and Fujimori, 46, has 49.71%, with around 96% of ballots counted.

Castillo had been trailing in the vote count; however, a late surge of votes from rural areas propelled him past Fujimori.

Fujimori alleges fraud
In a press conference hosted Monday evening soon after Castillo took the lead, Fujimori accused his supporters of stealing votes and committing election fraud.

"There's a clear intention to boycott the will of the people," Fujimori said, claiming she had evidence of "irregularities" and "signs of fraud."

"We have noticed that there has been a strategy [...] to distort or delay the results that reflect the popular will," Fujimori said without providing any conclusive evidence.

More:
https://www.dw.com/en/peru-elections-castillo-grabs-slim-lead-as-fujimori-alleges-fraud/a-57809389

(Gee, where have we heard this before? Sounds so familiar.... If only we could remember.)

[texasfiddler]

1. Interesting that they are so divided like us. However, the left leaning voters are rural.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You're right on that, yet in this area, rural people are generally native people, and powerless.

It should be noted they are shunned, and hated by the dictatorship-supporting fascist right-wingers who are running the show, living from hand to mouth, with no access, usually, to education, etc.