Sanchez warns he ‘will not recognise’ Fujimori victory in Peru election
The left-wing candidate has called for results from 119 consular offices to be nullified over a procedure change he says made the vote tally vulnerable
The left-wing candidate has called for results from 119 consular offices to be nullified over a procedure change he says made the vote tally vulnerable to manipulation. Peruvian presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez has denounced his country’s recent run-off election as “fraudulent”, rejecting results that show his rival Keiko Fujimori marginally ahead. On Tuesday, Sanchez held a news conference calling for protests over the weekend. He also said he would not recognise a Fujimori presidency, accusing authorities of manipulating votes cast abroad to favour a right-wing government. “We will not recognise that government and will declare a state of political and social struggle — a movement of popular and patriotic resistance,” Sanchez wrote in a social media post after the event. Sanchez’s statements are the latest sign of turmoil in Peru’s fraught political system, which has seen nine presidents in power in the span of a decade. They are also a reflection of the razor-thin margins in the ongoing vote count. On June 7, the left-wing Sanchez faced the right-wing Fujimori in a run-off. With more than 99.7 percent of the votes counted as of Tuesday, Fujimori is in the lead, with 50.11 percent support. Sanchez, meanwhile, won 49.89 percent of the votes. Roughly 40,687 ballots separate the two candidates. Authorities have said they intend to complete the vote tally within 30 days of the election, in time to prepare for the inauguration of the next president on July 28, Peru’s independence day.
But it appears likely that the swearing-in ceremony will be met with controversy. At Tuesday’s news conference, Sanchez raised questions about the legitimacy of the votes cast from abroad. Peru set up roughly 2,506 polling tables on foreign soil, and the government estimates that overseas voters account for more than 1.2 million people, or roughly 4.4 percent of the country’s total voter roll. But Sanchez has criticised a recent decision from Peru’s election authorities, striking down a requirement that tally sheets at polling stations overseas be scanned and digitised. On Tuesday, he argued that the change in procedure made the voting process vulnerable to interference, resulting in a “fraudulent benefit” for Fujimori. “This unlawful action renders the run-off elections held at consular offices null and void, as it has compromised the legal certainty of the votes cast by Peruvians abroad,” Sanchez wrote on social media. He called on the Jury of Elections (JNE), the country’s electoral court, to “declare as null the June 7 elections held at consular offices for Peruvians abroad”. His official request focused on election results from 119 Peruvian consular offices where voting was held, “on the grounds that the electoral process was severely compromised”. No evidence was presented to support his claims that the policy change resulted in Sanchez’s campaign being “robbed” of votes, as he put it.
The BriefWire