LIMA, June 15, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet expressed concern Monday over rising tension in Peru eight days after presidential elections that have yet to yield a result, and urged all parties to “remain calm.”
Rightist candidate Keiko Fujimori, 46, has challenged the validity of tens of thousands of ballots cast last Sunday as she narrowly trails behind left-wing hopeful Pedro Castillo in the preliminary count.
Unless she wins, Fujimori faces imminent trial on corruption charges which would otherwise be delayed until after her presidential term.
With over 99 percent of ballots counted, rural school teacher Castillo, 51, led by 48,000 votes or 50.13 percent to Fujimori’s 49.86 percent, according to the ONPE election body.
Fujimori has claimed fraud in the vote count, with official results now awaiting the outcome of a review by Peru’s National Elections Jury (JNE).
The ONPE is responsible for organizing elections and the vote count, while the JNE resolves disputes and proclaims the winner.
“I am concerned that what should be a celebration of democracy is becoming a source of division, which is in turn widening the fracture in Peruvian society with negative human rights implications,” Bachelet said in a statement.
And she expressed concern that election officials were being harassed.
“If the rules of democracy are not accepted before, during and after the elections, social cohesion can dangerously crack,” Bachelet said.
Peruvians voted last Sunday for their fifth president in three years after a series of crises and corruption scandals saw three different leaders in office in a single week last November.
– No ‘serious irregularities’ –
As is usual for Peru, the tail-end of vote counting was slow due to delays in delivering ballots from rural and jungle areas, and from abroad — where a million of the country’s 25 million eligible voters live.
The JNE is reviewing challenges to tens of thousands of votes cast at 165 polling stations countrywide — 151 of them disputed by Fujimori, and 14 by Castillo.
The process could still take several days.
Observers from the Organization of American States have declared the ballot free with no “serious irregularities.”
Amid rising tension, supporters of both candidates thronged the capital Lima and other cities and towns over the weekend to demand an end to the stalemate.
Prosecutors have said they would seek a 30-year jail term for Fujimori on charges of taking money from scandal-tainted Brazilian construction giant Odebrecht to fund failed presidential bids in 2011 and 2016.
Fujimori, who has already spent 16 months in pre-trial detention, denies the allegations.