Peru Confirms Fujimori-Sanchez Runoff After Chaotic First Round

Peru’s election authorities have confirmed that right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori will face left-wing congressman Roberto Sanchez in next month’s presidential runoff, closing a messy first round that left the country’s electoral system under heavy scrutiny.

The National Jury of Elections, or JNE, announced the final first-round results on Sunday. Fujimori finished first with 17 percent of the vote, while Sanchez came second with 12 percent.

The confirmation ends weeks of uncertainty after an election marked by delays, logistical failures and mounting distrust among candidates and voters. It does not, however, end the political fallout.

JNE President Roberto Burneo acknowledged that the process had serious shortcomings.

“We cannot deny that there were many difficulties and flaws in the logistical deployment by the organising entity, ONPE,” Burneo said during a press conference.

“We have incorporated all the lessons learned from the first round and are strengthening oversight,” he added.

The electoral body said it will bring together a committee of national and international experts to improve the second round and avoid a repeat of the problems seen on April 12. In some areas, voting had to be extended into the following day because of election-day disruptions.

Those failures fed into an already deep crisis of confidence. Several candidates alleged fraud, although election observers have said there is no evidence to support those claims.

Far-right candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who narrowly missed the runoff after finishing third with 11.9 percent, has rejected the result and called for the first round to be annulled.

“The electoral fraud in Peru has just been consummated,” he wrote on social media. “We will not accept results that are the product of fraud and corruption.”

The dispute lands in a country already exhausted by political instability. Peru has had nine presidents in the past decade, with Congress repeatedly using impeachment efforts to weaken or remove leaders. That churn has left voters deeply suspicious of institutions and weary of yet another contested election cycle.