Peru Presidential Election First Round Vote Counting Slow; Announcement Delayed to Mid-May
Peru's presidential election vote counting is delayed due to disputed ballots. Results determining the candidates for the runoff will not be available until mid-May. Keiko Fujimori currently leads.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: April 19, 2026 at 13:31
- 🔍 Collected: April 19, 2026 at 14:00 (29 min after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 19, 2026 at 14:25 (25 min after Collected)
Yessica Clavijo, Secretary General of Peru's highest electoral justice body, the National Jury of Elections (JNE), said in an interview with RPP radio today: 'We expect to have the first-round results of the presidential election only in mid-May, which will determine the candidates who can enter the second round of voting.'
Peru held a citizen vote for president on the 12th of this month. So far, 93.4% of the ballots have been counted, and right-wing candidate of Japanese descent Keiko Fujimori is temporarily leading with 17% support.
Left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez received 12% of the vote and is currently in second place; ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga is following closely behind in third place with 11.9%, forming a tight race.
Clavijo stated that the slow progress of the vote counting is because it is necessary to review more than 15,000 disputed ballots. Among these disputed ballots, about 30% are for the presidential election, and the rest are related to the congressional election.
During this election, some polling stations in the capital, Lima, experienced situations where ballots were not delivered on time, causing temporary chaos in the election process, and forcing the voting to be extended until the 20th to conclude.
Despite this, the European Union Election Observation Mission still gave a positive evaluation of this election in Peru. (Translated and edited by: Chi Chin-ling) 1150419
Peru held a citizen vote for president on the 12th of this month. So far, 93.4% of the ballots have been counted, and right-wing candidate of Japanese descent Keiko Fujimori is temporarily leading with 17% support.
Left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez received 12% of the vote and is currently in second place; ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga is following closely behind in third place with 11.9%, forming a tight race.
Clavijo stated that the slow progress of the vote counting is because it is necessary to review more than 15,000 disputed ballots. Among these disputed ballots, about 30% are for the presidential election, and the rest are related to the congressional election.
During this election, some polling stations in the capital, Lima, experienced situations where ballots were not delivered on time, causing temporary chaos in the election process, and forcing the voting to be extended until the 20th to conclude.
Despite this, the European Union Election Observation Mission still gave a positive evaluation of this election in Peru. (Translated and edited by: Chi Chin-ling) 1150419