Candidate Pedro Castillo with an indigenous outfit during a political rally. File photo.
Caracas, June 7 (OrinocoTribune.com)— Pedro Castillo, candidate for the presidency of Peru, leads the preliminary ballot with 50.27% of the votes, following the most recent update delivered Monday, June 7, at 7:23 p.m. (Peruvian time) with 95.96% of the ballots processed.
The Peruvian National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) has been posting preliminary updates of the results on its Twitter account. These posts confirm that the Peru Libre candidate has the advantage in the count, and that he has been distancing himself from the right-wing candidate.
Pedro Castillo has so far obtained 50.27% of the votes, or 8,548,929 votes, while his opponent, right-wing Keiko Fujimori from the Fuerza Popular party, has 49.73% of the votes, or 8,457,547.
RELATED CONTENT: Key Points of the Second Round of Presidential Elections in Peru
#ONPEinforma [ACTUALIZACIÓN DE RESULTADOS] Actas contabilizadas para fórmula de presidente y vicepresidentes a las 19:23 horas del 7 de junio. pic.twitter.com/81EcCWEbAR
— ONPE (@ONPE_oficial) June 8, 2021
The preliminary results for the positions of the presidency and vice presidency have been incredibly tight, with a tiny gap between the two candidates at all times.
This was evidenced in the polls, which gave Pedro Castillo a very small advantage, prior to the second round of elections held this past Sunday, June 6, in Peru.
In the early morning the difference between the two candidates was a little over 31,000 votes, now it is 91,382 votes.
The tally will continue to be updated during the evening with the processing of rural ballots that have favored the leftist candidate. Most votes from abroad have already been accounted for by the ONPE website, with the notable absence of figures from countries with large Peruvian communities including Spain, US, Japan, or Venezuela
Let us recall that Peru’s first round of presidential elections was on April 11, when Pedro Castillo and Keiko Fujimori were elected with 19.09% and 13.36% of the votes respectively. After the surprise victory of Castillo, the political establishment and “free press” in Peru launched an anti-communist tirade against him, which did not strongly affect his run at the presidency, now almost certain to end in success.
More than 17 million Peruvians participated in these elections, representing 76.9% of the population, and the turnout at the last update showed 75.95%.
Featured image: Candidate Pedro Castillo with an indigenous outfit during a political rally. File photo.
(Special for Orinoco Tribune) by Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza
OT/JRE/SL
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza
Jesús Rodríguez-Espinoza is an expert in international relations, Venezuelan politics, and communication. He served for several years as Consul General of Venezuela in Chicago (United States); before that, he was part of the foundational editorial team of Aporrea.org. He is the founder and editor of the Venezuelan anti-imperialist news outlet Orinoco Tribune.
