Peru's Sánchez alleges fraud and says he won't recognize a Fujimori government
Key takeaways
- At a press conference in Lima, the left-wing candidate also called a protest for Saturday in defense of what he considers the popular will expressed at the ballot box.
- Until a few days ago, S nchez had avoided using the word fraud.
- S nchez asked the National Jury of Elections (JNE) to suspend the count while the appeals filed are resolved, and confirmed a request to annul the overseas vote, where more than 300,000 ballots were cast.
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The presidential candidate of Juntos por el Per , Roberto S nchez, hardened his rhetoric on the runoff on Tuesday, alleging an alleged fraud in progress and announcing that he will not recognize a possible government of right-wing Keiko Fujimori. At a press conference in Lima, the left-wing candidate also called a protest for Saturday in defense of what he considers the popular will expressed at the ballot box.
Until a few days ago, S nchez had avoided using the word fraud. This time he held that there are reasons to question the validity of the votes cast abroad and blamed the Foreign Ministry and the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). According to the candidate, the main irregularity is that the overseas tally sheets were not digitized immediately after the vote, as they were in the first round, which in his view weakened the safeguards of the process. We have the legitimate right to doubt and to believe that a manipulation of that vote took place to benefit the Fuerza Popular party, he said. His group filed a complaint against Foreign Minister Carlos Pareja for alleged electoral fraud.
S nchez asked the National Jury of Elections (JNE) to suspend the count while the appeals filed are resolved, and confirmed a request to annul the overseas vote, where more than 300,000 ballots were cast. If that request were to prosper, the result would be reversed: counting only the votes within the country, S nchez would overtake Fujimori. If the National Jury of Elections does not act in accordance with the law, that fraud will have been consummated, he warned, anticipating that his party would resort to patriotic and popular resistance.