Rural vote upends Peru count: leftist Sanchez overtakes Lopez Aliaga and advances to runoff
Because it’s the popular movement and the highland areas, it has to be fraud. Show the evidence. No vote is worth more than another, Mr. López Aliaga, Sánchez said
The count in Peru’s presidential election produced a dramatic reversal on Wednesday. With 91% of ballots processed by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), leftist Roberto Sánchez (Juntos por el Perú) surged from sixth to second place, displacing ultraconservative Rafael López Aliaga (Renovación Popular) and positioning himself for the June 7 runoff against Keiko Fujimori (Fuerza Popular), who holds first place with 16.99% of the vote.
Sánchez reached 12.05%, edging López Aliaga (11.89%) by fewer than 30,000 votes. The comeback reflects the late processing of ballots from rural areas and the southern highlands, where the candidate draws his strongest support. In the early stages of the count, dominated by urban ballots from Lima, López Aliaga peaked at nearly 14% but steadily lost ground as votes from the interior were added.
Sánchez, a sitting congressman and former trade minister, is the political heir of Pedro Castillo, the former president jailed since 2022 for his attempted self-coup. He campaigned wearing a wide-brimmed hat that Castillo gave him in prison and closed his campaign on horseback, mirroring the former president’s iconography. Days before the election, Castillo used a court hearing to urge voters to support his protégé. Sánchez has promised to pardon him if elected.
From his party headquarters in Lima, Sánchez addressed his rival: Because it’s the popular movement and the highland areas, it has to be fraud. Show the evidence. No vote is worth more than another, Mr. López Aliaga. The vote of deep Peru will be respected.
López Aliaga rejected the results and called a protest rally outside the National Elections Jury headquarters, alleging what he called systematic fraud without presenting evidence. The European Union Electoral Observation Mission, which deployed 150 observers, found no irregularities. The mission has not received sufficient elements to say that the fraud narrative has grounds to be developed, said its chief, Annalisa Corrado.
Pollsters Ipsos and Datum produced different quick-count results: Ipsos had placed Sánchez in second, while Datum put López Aliaga there, generating confusion on Sunday night.
Patricia Zárate, a researcher at the Institute of Peruvian Studies, warned about the impact of fraud allegations in a country with low institutional trust. Eight out of ten believe fraud is possible. Everything that happened deepens the problem and damages democracy, she said.
Sánchez’s advance rattled markets. The dollar opened Wednesday at 3.43 soles, a sharp jump from Tuesday’s close of 3.39, a move directly attributed to the shift in the runoff’s composition.
With the remaining 9% of ballots coming predominantly from regions where Sánchez is strongest, analysts expect his lead over López Aliaga to widen in the coming hours.
