Peru’s presidential runoff election is going into overtime.
With 93 percent of the polling precincts counted, World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski clung to holding a 1-point lead over Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former strongman Alberto Fujimori and the front-runner for much of the campaign. Election officials say the race could be decided when votes from Peruvians living abroad are tallied — which some believe favors Mr. Kuczynski.
According to the National Office of Electoral Processes on Monday, the 77-year-old Mr. Kuczynski had 8,124,581 votes, or 50.32 percent, while Ms. Fujimori had 8,021,198, or 49.68 percent. Expatriates and rural voters remain the two largest sources of remaining votes, and officials say the results are so close that they may not be known until the weekend.
Both candidates are sitting tight and urging their supporters to do the same. The two candidates share a center-right approach and would be a marked contrast from departing leftist President Ollanta Humala, who is barred by law from running for a second five-year term.
Speaking from a balcony at his campaign headquarters in Lima, Mr. Kuczynski told his supporters to be patient — but also to be on the lookout for fraud.
“We must wait for the official results. We must be vigilant that they don’t steal the vote at the table,” Mr. Kuczynski said Sunday night, according to The Associated Press. “I want to call on Peruvians, of any political conviction, to defend freedom and fend off the return to dictatorship, corruption and lies.”
An upbeat Ms. Fujimori also addressed her supporters from Lima on Sunday night — asserting that the race was far from over.
“It fills us with emotion and pride to know we can count on the support of 50 percent of the population,” Ms. Fujimori, 41, said. “It is a technical tie. We are going to prudently wait all night for the ballots from abroad, from rural Peru and remote Peru. This is why we are optimistic.”
A majority of foreign-based voters live mostly in the United States, where Mr. Kuczynski worked for many years and is well known. Ballots from far-out provinces have also yet to be counted — including areas in the southern Andes, where Mr. Kuczynski is popular, and sparsely populated jungle regions where Ms. Fujimori finds stronger support.
Analysts said Mr. Kuczynski’s surge in the campaign’s last week can be attributed to a late reaction against the return of “Fujimorismo,” the turbulent and authoritarian times under Ms. Fujimori’s father in the 1990s. Last week Veronica Mendoza, the left-leaning candidate who just missed securing her own spot in the runoff, endorsed Mr. Kuczynski and urged her supporters to “close the book on Fujimorismo politics.”
Ex-President Alberto Fujimori is remembered for corruption and human rights violations during his term in power, but he also won deep support for his programs to help the poor and for a tough and successful stand against the brutal leftist Shining Path guerrilla movement.
If elected, Mr. Kuczynski, a former finance minister who also worked on Wall Street, said he would boost the economy by providing tax incentives for large investors and cutting taxes for small businesses. Ms. Fujimori said she plans to raise corporate taxes to finance infrastructure spending and has pledged to bring economic growth rates back to at least 5 percent per year.
In the 2011 election Ms. Fujimori lost in a tight race against Mr. Humala. It’s possible that Ms. Fujimori may see history repeat itself with a second agonizingly close loss.
• This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Jessie Fox can be reached at jfox@washingtontimes.com.
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