Keiko Fujimori Expands Lead, Poised to Become Peru's First Elected Female President

LIMA, June 18 (CNA) — Right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori is moving closer to victory in Peru’s election, maintaining a narrow but widening lead as only 0.6% of ballots remain to be reviewed. Meanwhile, leftist candidate Roberto Sanchez has called for protests, alleging irregularities in the electoral process.

According to Reuters, this marks Fujimori’s fourth attempt at the presidency. Since the June 7 runoff, she has led Sanchez by 39,115 votes. As of this morning, approximately 140,000 contested votes are awaiting review, with 60% originating from Lima and overseas districts—areas that historically favor Fujimori.

Gonzalo Marquez, head of the data consultancy Caleidos, noted that these regions are Fujimori’s strongholds, making an outcome reversal highly unlikely. With 99.38% of the vote tallied, Fujimori, daughter of the late former President Alberto Fujimori, holds 50.11% of the valid vote compared to 49.89% for Sanchez.

Should she prevail, Fujimori will become the first woman directly elected president of Peru. Sanchez’s party has filed legal appeals seeking to annul certain ballots and has organized demonstrations in Lima. Election observer missions from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the European Union (EU) reported that the voting process was generally sound and urged all parties to await the final official results.