Castillo won the elections in Peru, but he is not yet president

Five days after voting Presidential election run-offAs the count ends, in Peru it is not yet known who will be the new president or the new president: leftist activist Pedro Castillo won The elections were by a very small margin, receiving about 60,000 more votes than his rival Keiko Fujimori, a right-wing populist, but he has not yet been declared president because the latter has challenged the results, claiming that there are “Systematic electoral fraud».

Although many international observers have denied the alleged irregularities reported by Fujimori, legal disputes could persist for up to two weeks and lead to the election results being annulled. Above all, it could increase tensions in the country, which is increasingly divided by economic inequality among the population, endemic corruption among politicians and government officials, and the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Castillo, former teacher and candidate of the Marxist-inspired Peru Libero Party, He got 50.2 percent of the vote against 49.8 percent of Keiko Fujimori, leader of the right-wing populist party Forza Popolari and daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who ruled the country in an authoritarian manner from 1990 to 2000 Fujimori performed very well in the more central neighborhoods of Lima, the country’s capital, It has the support of a majority of elite voters, while Castillo won a large majority in rural areas, which is also the poorest in Peru.

During the election campaign, both Castillo and Fujimori said they were concerned about the possibility of fraud, but implied that they would honor the election result in the name of democracy. Now, however, Fujimori has called for the cancellation of more than 200,000 ballot papers, arguing that in electoral processes there were a “chain of irregularities” that would have benefited his opponent, while Castillo encouraged his supporters to take to the streets peacefully to defend. pings.

From Tacabamba I ask our actors and characters to be attentive to defend each voice. I call on the Peruvian people from all over the country to take to the streets in peace and vigilance in defense of democracy. #ADefenderElVoto

– Pedro Castillo Terones (@PedroCastilloTe) June 7, 2021

Fujimori accused Castillo supporters of committing many illegal activities and demanded the cancellation of 802 polling stations, which was unheard of in the country’s history.

To give a few examples, he questioned the fact that some seat chairmen’s signatures did not exactly match the signatures on their documents—the spelling naturally changes slightly over time—and demanded that all seat ballots be scrapped. Puno, a city in the south of the country on Lake Titicaca, claims to have three siblings among the auditors, which is prohibited by law. Country Tell That the three people were identified and made clear that they are not relatives but just homonyms, given that there are hundreds of people in Puno with the same surname.

All seats in which the alleged infractions challenged by Forza Popolari would have taken place are distributed in rural areas, with Castillo having a clear majority. Among other things, Fujimori objected to the votes of some seats in which 100 percent of the vote went to Castillo, arguing that it was not possible that no one would vote for it.

– Read also: Who are Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori?

Many international observers said that they did not notice any irregularities in the conduct of the elections, which were conducted according to their assessments according to national and international standards. at Video Released on Twitter on Tuesday, the head of the election observer mission of the Organization of American States, Ruben Ramirez, commended the Peruvian electoral authorities for organizing a “very complex process” in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, moreover in the context of “great political polarization”. Other election experts have heard of Country, including former head of the National Office for Electoral Operations (ONPE) Fernando Twista, said there was no evidence of possible fraud.

Now it will be the task of the National Election Arbitration Commission, the highest body dealing with control of electoral processes, to re-examine disputed ballot papers. If Fujimori’s requests are accepted, validating the cards could theoretically reverse the outcome.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez and other left-wing politicians from various Latin American countries such as former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff Castillo congratulated his victory. Instead, seventeen former presidents issued a joint statement demanding that the president not be proclaimed until the legal disputes Fujimori faced was resolved. They include former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and former Mexican President Felipe Calderon, all of whom are from the center right.

Important statement from 17 former presidents of democracy in Latin America. The elections are not over yet. We will continue to defend the legitimate right of millions of Peruvians until the last vote. https://t.co/sUf1tvTSkZ

– Keiko Fujimori (@KeikoFujimori) June 10, 2021