Peru election: Why has no winner been declared?

Voters in Peru were asked to decide between two radically different candidates within the second round of the presidential election persisted 6 June. Left-wing former school teacher Pedro Castillo faced his right-wing rival, Keiko Fujimori, within the most polarised poll in Peru’s recent history. It took over per week for the vote count to be completed but neither candidate has been declared a winner yet. What do the figures say? With all of the votes tallied, Pedro Castillo had 50.125% of the votes and Keiko Fujimori had 49.875%. Those figures give Mr. Castillo a lead of 0.25 percentage points over Ms. Fujimori, which amounts to 44,058 votes. The count was meted out by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), the official body responsible for organizing elections in Peru. The independent body responsible for declaring a winner is that the National Elections Jury (JNE), not the ONPE. The JNE has said that it’ll not declare a winner until it’s reviewed all the voting records that are contested and ruled on requests to possess votes annulled. Its president, Jorge Luis Salas Arena, said the JNE was proceeding “impartially and transparently” and urged Peruvians to attend calmly. The JNE hearings within which appeals by the 2 parties are being reviewed and ruled on are being broadcast live to tell the tale TV and Facebook to confirm transparency. Why are ballots being reviewed? Both parties had asked for a variety of voting records to be reviewed claiming irregularities, but the bulk of appeals have come from Keiko Fujimori’s Popular Force party. Ms. Fujimori alleges that there has been large-scale fraud, and last week asked election authorities to annul about 200,000 votes. However, she provided little detailed evidence of systematic fraud, which might be required for the votes to be scrapped. She is additionally contesting a variety of voting records – the sheets on which the ballot tally is recorded at the polling stations – questioning specifically those from some rural areas which had her receiving no votes whatsoever. She claims this could be a highly unlikely outcome and has accused Mr. Castillo’s Free Peru party of “stealing votes”, which is denied. Supporters of Mr. Castillo have seen that his support is especially strong in rural areas, meaning such an outcome wasn’t suspicious. The Organization of yank States (OAS), which had sent monitors to the election, said it had found no evidence of great irregularities. What happens next? After the vote count reached 100% and had him within the lead, Pedro Castillo changed the outline on his Twitter profile to “president-elect”. He wrote: “A new time has begun. numerous Peruvians have stood up within the defense of their dignity and justice.” But Ms. Fujimori has not conceded and told her supporters that she would “defend Peru’s democracy”. The JNE said it might review all the cases which were referred up thereto from the lower Special Electoral Juries (JEE). The JNE hearings have started and are expected to require days or possibly even weeks. Why does it matter? With the 2 candidates representing very different visions for Peru, the winner could define which path the country takes for the following five years. Mr. Castillo could be a political newcomer, a left-wing school teacher from rural Peru who was little known before the primary round of the election. Some investors have expressed concern about his campaign promise to introduce higher taxes on mining firms within the copper-producing nation. Peru’s currency has been falling and is nearing rock bottom and there are fears that if he’s declared the winner, the economy can be destabilized further. Mr. Castillo tried to allay a number of those fears on 16 June when he said that he “would guarantee a stable economy, respecting holding and respecting private investment”. Critics of Ms. Fujimori fear that if she were to control, it’d end in a return to power for Peru’s “old guard”. She has said that she would pardon her father, former President Alberto Fujimori, who is in jail serving a 25-year sentence for crimes including corruption and human rights abuses. The final outcome of the election also will change Ms. Fujimori’s immediate future. She is facing allegations of cash laundering and if elected, the proceedings against her would be suspended for the duration of her time in office. However, analysts say that whoever is asserted winner will subsume a highly fragmented Congress which is probably going to create it hard to pass radical changes.