LIMA, April 19, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Results from the first round of Peru's presidential election won't be released until mid-May, an official said Saturday, after a chaotic vote leading to what appeared to be a tight race.

"We expect to have the presidential results, which is what we need to determine the runoff candidates, by around mid-May," said Yessica Clavijo, secretary general of the National Jury of Elections (JNE) -- Peru's highest electoral justice authority -- on radio broadcaster RPP.

With 93.4 percent of ballots counted from last Sunday's election, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori was leading with 17 percent.

The top two candidates go to a runoff election, and a close race has emerged for a spot in the next round between leftist Roberto Sanchez, who received 12 percent of the vote, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga, with 11.9 percent.

The gap between the two increased slightly Saturday to 13,600 votes.

Clavijo attributed the slow vote count to the review of more than 15,000 challenged ballots, about 30 percent of which involve the presidential vote and the remainder related to legislative elections.

Lopez Aliaga, the former mayor of capital Lima, has emerged as the harshest critic of the vote's delays. He has alleged fraud, without providing evidence, and called for the vote to be annulled.

He called on supporters of his Popular Renewal Party to march on Sunday in protest.

Sanchez, for his part, also criticized the vote, telling a press conference Saturday: "These serious organizational issues must be investigated and there must be appropriate sanctions."

A record 35 candidates ran for president in the chronically unstable Andean nation, where four of the last eight presidents were impeached by Congress.

The election was marked by delays in the delivery of election materials that forced authorities to extend voting into Monday in parts of the capital Lima.

The European Union's election observer mission nonetheless gave the election a clean bill of health.

On Friday, prosecutors raided a warehouse of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), which organizes the vote, and four officials have been reported to JNE for alleged crimes against the right to vote.