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The right-wing Keiko Fujimori topped the counting of the presidential elections in Peru with 16.9% of valid votes, followed by Rafael López Aliaga from Renovación Popular with 14.7%, according to the official report from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) with 51.6% of ballots counted, which indicates a runoff between the two on June 7.
The quick count at 100% from the polling company Datum, based on 1,500 ballots, confirmed Fujimori with 16.8% and López Aliaga with 12.9%, consolidating the projection for the runoff.
In the official partial count, Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, has accumulated 1,605,510 votes, while López Aliaga totals 1,398,667.
In third place was the centrist Jorge Nieto from the Good Government Party, with 12.9%, followed by businessman Ricardo Belmont (Obras) with 9.8%, comedian Carlos Álvarez with 8.4%, leftist Roberto Sánchez (Juntos por el Perú) with 7.7%, and center-left Alfonso López Chau (Ahora Nación) with 7.6%.
After learning the results of the quick count, Fujimori celebrated that the left would not be in the runoff: "The results of the quick count are a very positive sign for the country, because the enemy is the left, and according to the results of the count, they would not be in the second round, and that is very positive for all Peruvians."
If the result is confirmed, it will be the fourth consecutive occasion that Fujimori reaches a presidential runoff, after having lost the previous three to Ollanta Humala (2011), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016), and Pedro Castillo (2021).
López Aliaga, for his part, will arrive at the runoff as the leader of the far-right party Renovación Popular, having left the mayor's office of Lima last October to run for the presidency.
The election day on Sunday was marked by a serious logistical crisis in Lima: the company contracted to distribute the electoral material arrived up to five hours late in some areas, preventing around 52,251 citizens from voting.
This situation prompted the National Jury of Elections (JNE) to make the unprecedented decision to extend voting to this Monday in the affected centers, which included 187 polling stations in Lima and districts in Orlando (Florida) and Paterson (New Jersey).
López Aliaga filed a criminal complaint against the head of the ONPE, Piero Corvetto, for neglecting his duties and requested his immediate arrest, arguing that it is "not a coincidence" that the schools that were not opened are located in areas where, according to him, the majority votes for his party.
Despite the controversy, the election observation missions from the European Union and the Organization of American States reported a day free of irregularities and a high voter turnout.
More than 27.3 million Peruvians were called to elect their authorities for the 2026-2031 term, in a country that has experienced eight presidents in the last ten years amidst a spiral of political crises.
The second round on June 7 will determine who will govern Peru for the next five years, marking the fourth attempt by Fujimori to reach the presidency that her father, Alberto Fujimori, held from 1990 to 2000.
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