Peru votes for president in first round after months of chaos and scandal [View all]

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Peruvians are voting for president and congress in a crowded election that will determine whether the nation can restore order after recent political chaos.

Polls show the presidential vote is too close to call and no single candidate will have enough support to avoid a June runoff. Over 25 million of the nation's 33 million people are eligible to vote.

Hanging over the race is the question of who can govern a country that has had three presidents since November, and where every elected head of state but one since 1985 has either been impeached, imprisoned or sought in criminal investigations.

Many voters are also angry after hundreds of well-connected Peruvians received Covid-19 shots in secret, in what’s being called the “vaccinegate” scandal.

Former Congressman Yonhy Lescano, 62, was leading some major polls on April 4 - the last day results could be publicly released. He’s promised to share the country’s vast mining wealth more widely and bring down consumer interest rates.

At: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-11/peruvians-vote-for-president-after-months-of-chaos-and-scandal

Six of 18 Peruvian presidential candidates (clockwise): Veronica Mendoza, Hernando de Soto, George Forsyth, Rafael López Aliaga, Keiko Fujimori, and Yonhy Lescano.

Also running, among others, is former President Ollanta Humala.

While centrist former Congressman Yonhy Lescano leads polling, none in the crowded field has a clear majority - making a second round on June 6th all but inevitable.

Some 28% of Peruvians want "none of the above" according to a recent poll.