Peru's presidential race tightens as Fujimori edges Sanchez in vote count

Peru’s presidential race stayed on a knife edge late Wednesday as Keiko Fujimori nudged back ahead of Roberto Sanchez by just 650 votes, a margin so thin that the next president may inherit not only a fractured mandate but an immediate fight over legitimacy. With 98.21% of polling stations reporting and about 18 million ballots counted, Fujimori held 50.002% to Sanchez’s 49.998%, while 1.76% of polling stations, representing about 400,000 votes, were flagged for judicial review.

The swing back toward Fujimori came as overseas ballots were added to the tally, after Sanchez had briefly moved ahead earlier in the count when rural votes were processed. Peru’s electoral authority, ONPE, has not yet completed the count, and the pace has been slowed by the country’s paper-based system, which lacks digitized tabulation. That delay has turned each new batch of ballots into a political event, with the result shifting as different geographic blocs are added.

International observers said the vote itself was carried out normally, but stressed that a final count was essential because the margin was so narrow. The European Union Election Observation Mission said Peru remained in the tabulation and adjudication phase, with critical stages still ahead, including the official results count and resolution of petitions. The Organization of American States deployed observers across all 24 Peruvian regions and in the Constitutional Province of Callao, underlining how closely the process was being watched.

The tension spilled into the streets of central Lima, where Sanchez supporters gathered outside the National Election Jury offices and were dispersed with water cannons. Sanchez hardened his tone on Wednesday and asked to meet with international observers to discuss what he called strange, unusual and questionable developments. Fujimori and Sanchez had both called for calm and patience, but the contest’s tiny margin and the prospect of weeks of judicial review have kept suspicion close to the surface.

The stakes go beyond the tally. Fujimori is seeking the presidency after losing her previous two runoffs by fractions of a point, and she fell to jailed President Pedro Castillo in 2021 by roughly 45,000 votes. Sanchez, a former minister under Castillo, has cast himself as the political heir to that left-wing project, even adopting Castillo’s signature cowboy hat. In a country this polarized, the final count may matter as much as the winner: whoever prevails will have to govern amid contested ballots, public distrust and an electorate already primed to question the result.