Lima, May 17 (EFE).- Peru’s electoral authority officially confirmed Sunday that right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and left-wing contender Roberto Sánchez will compete in a presidential runoff on June 7 following the certification of the April general election results.
The candidates for the 2026–2031 presidential term were officially proclaimed during a ceremony presided over by National Jury of Elections president Roberto Burneo, who certified the results of the Apr. 12 general elections.
According to the final count, Fujimori received the highest number of votes with 17.19 percent, totaling nearly 2.9 million ballots.
Sánchez finished second with 12.03 percent, or 2.01 million votes, narrowly ahead of far-right candidate Rafael López Aliaga, who came third with 11.91 percent or 1.99 million votes.
The JNE thereby confirmed the final results of the 100 percent vote count completed Friday by Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), 33 days after the election.
The official proclamation ceremony began at 7:30 a.m. local time (12:30 GMT) and was attended by electoral authorities, representatives of political parties, national officials and members of international election observation missions.
The election process was marked by delays in voting at numerous polling stations, particularly in Lima and the United States, prompting López Aliaga to allege fraud without presenting conclusive evidence.
The far-right politician unsuccessfully demanded a new election and an audit before the final results were proclaimed.
The runoff is expected to revive the political polarization seen in the 2021 elections. Fujimori, daughter and political heir of former president Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000, is seeking the presidency again after losing the previous three elections.
Sánchez, meanwhile, is running as an ally of imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, who defeated Fujimori in the 2021 runoff.
The elections were the largest in Peru’s history, with 35 presidential candidates competing amid widespread public dissatisfaction with the country’s political establishment.
Blank and null votes accounted for 16.84 percent of ballots cast, totaling 3.41 million votes, a figure higher than the vote count received by any individual candidate.
In recent weeks, the country’s 60 special electoral juries reviewed more than 5,000 contested ballots due to inconsistencies, triggering recounts in some cases during lengthy public hearings.
The JNE said more than 60,000 disputed voting records were reviewed and noted that the timeline for certifying results was consistent with previous elections, with official proclamations made on May 13 in 2011, May 10 in 2016 and May 18 in 2021.
The June 7 runoff will decide who governs Peru for the next five years after a decade of political instability that has seen the country cycle through eight presidents. EFE dub-sk
