Sawt Falasteen - Fujimori and Sanchez advance to Peru runoff: official results

The daughter of late former president Alberto Fujimori won the first round on April 12 with 17.1 percent of the vote, followed by Sanchez with 12 percent, the National Jury of Elections (JNE) announced.

Ultraconservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga finished in third place with 11.9 percent, losing to Sanchez by some 21,200 votes.

The first round was marked by delays in the delivery of electoral materials in the capital Lima, with authorities having to reopen some polling stations for a second day.

Still, while the European Union's election observation mission noted problems in how the vote was conducted, it gave its seal of approval.

Lopez Aliaga meanwhile refused to recognize the results.

"We will immediately challenge this grave crime of treason against the homeland," the former Lima mayor said on X. "We will not accept results born of fraud and corruption."

The upcoming runoff is expected to mirror the deeply polarized second round of 2021, when Fujimori faced leftist candidate Pedro Castillo, who went on to serve as president before being ousted in December 2022.

This will be the fourth time Fujimori, 50, is running for president.

For Sanchez, a 57-year-old former trade minister under Castillo, this is his third bid for the office.

The two candidates will compete for the presidency against a backdrop of profound political instability, with Peru having cycled through eight presidents since 2016.

The majority were either removed from office or stepped down to avoid a similar fate over corruption accusations.

Peru is also battling a deepening security crisis, fueled by a sharp rise in organized crime.

Sanchez begins his runoff campaign embroiled in legal troubles.

Prosecutors have requested a prison sentence of five years and four months against him for allegedly providing false information to the electoral authority regarding campaign contributions between 2018 and 2020.

J.AbuShaban--SF-PST