Peru: Fujimori cries electoral fraud - and unleashes torrent of racism
Source: The Guardian
Peru: Fujimori cries electoral fraud and unleashes torrent of racism
Claims of rightwing candidate, trailing Pedro Castillo in the polls, emboldens far right, who have vowed not to accept result
Dan Collyns
@yachay_dc
Sun 20 Jun 2021 10.00 BST
The prospect of the son of illiterate Andean peasants becoming president as his rival cries fraud has shaken Perus entrenched class system and its fragile democracy, letting loose a torrent of racism in the bicentennial year of the countrys independence.
With 100% of the official vote counted, leftist Pedro Castillo had 50.12% and advantage of about 44,000 votes over his far-right rival Keiko Fujimori. But Fujimori has claimed fraud, challenging about 500,000 votes, calling for half to be annulled, and obliging officials at Perus electoral board to reexamine ballots despite the lack of evidence of wrongdoing.
Two weeks after the election, which national and international observers said was transparent, the stance of Keiko Fujimori the daughter of jailed 1990s autocrat Alberto Fujimori has emboldened the far right, who have vowed not to accept the election results.
In a move which illustrates the skewed playing field, Fujimori has recruited Limas most expensive law firms to quash 200,000 votes, almost all from poor Andean regions which voted overwhelmingly for Castillo.
The tension has reached a breaking point, said José Ragas, a Peruvian historian at Chiles Catholic University. The Lima elite is not just trying to keep power its not just that they dont want to recognise the victory of Pedro Castillo but they are trying to cancel the rural vote.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/20/peru-elite-election-pedro-castillo-keiko-fujimori