The specter of electoral fraud that hit Ecuador and Bolivia is now shaking Peru

Evidence of fraud at polling stations and systematic fraud. Keiko Fujimori is willing to fight for Peru's last vote, despite the fact that she does not have evidence of what was denounced on Monday night. “A series of irregularities have been occurring that worry us and we believe it is important to show it.. There is a clear intention to boycott the popular will,” said the dictator's daughter.

The Fuerza Popular (FP) candidate marches behind the teacher and trade unionist Pedro Castillo in the latest update of the electoral count carried out by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). The standard-bearer of the radical left accumulates 50.20% of the support compared to 49.79% of the right-wing populist, more than 70,000 votes ahead with 97.89% of the tally sheets processed.

Both candidates remain in their headquarters surrounded by their collaborators awaiting a recount that looks more like a Hitchcock movie.. Fujimori's initial advantage thanks to the urban vote turned into a disadvantage when the rural tally sheets began to arrive, which allowed Castillo at dawn yesterday to reach a difference of 100,000 votes.

The impact of the foreign vote, where Keiko accumulates 2/3 of the preferences, began to reduce the advantage of the candidate from Peru Libre (PL) when the acts of Ayacucho, Cusco and Huancavelica, proCastillo, and the Amazon Loreto, still remain to be counted. where Fujimori is the majority. So far, Castillo has prevailed in 16 regions and the populist leader in nine.

Fujimori's announcement was qualified by his allies, who denied that he had accused electoral bodies of fraud. “The warnings, very justified, have all been against the mafia methods that Peru Libre is using to circumvent the popular will, not against the ONPE,” stressed Álvaro Vargas Llosa.

In Keiko's campaign command they assure that Castillo has challenged acts in Lima where they are a majority. Even a PL controller was detained accused of marking records, something he did “involuntarily”, as he declared after being released. “They have challenged us in a rude way, because otherwise the vote would be otherwise,” criticized Luis Galarreta, FP's vice-presidential candidate.

For its part, the ONPE warned of a fake news campaign promoted from the circle close to Fuerza Popular to make believe that there is a perverse mechanism with the acts observed.. Those that contain errors, are illegible or incomplete are sent to the National Board of Elections for ruling, a process that can lengthen the final resolution.

PL's response, through its social networks, was forceful: “We reject the statements of the Fuerza Popular candidate, reminding her that Peru Libre never resorted to electoral fraud. On the contrary, he was always a victim of this, and despite everything we knew how to face and win.”

Castillo also defended the work of his “personeros” (interveners), indicated from the Fujimori side, whom he defined as “heroes and heroines of democracy.”

Such a situation keeps Castillo as the favorite to win, which on Monday caused the collapse of the stock markets and the national currency, the sol, against the dollar.. In an attempt to stop the financial bleeding, Castillo's economic advisors reiterated to the country that they will respect the autonomy of the Central Reserve Bank (culprit of the best inflation figures in the region during this century), that they will not impose the Chavista model of expropriations , exchange and price controls (the same ones that have destroyed the Venezuelan economy) nor will they prohibit exports, despite the comings and goings of their candidate.

The great electoral surprise of the Latin American year also has the support of the Puebla Group, which brings together leftist and populist leaders from the region and who maintain as one of their main philosophical stones the laundering of the Bolivarian revolution. “Attention with Peru. Fujimori begins to speak of irregularities. We hope that Luis Almagro (OAS Secretary General) and company will not lend themselves to repeating the history of Bolivia,” the Puebla Group highlighted on its networks.

no evidence

“The same discourse of the racist, fascist and coup right: denounces fraud without evidence and attacks the democracy that it claims to defend. Trump in the US, Mesa in Bolivia and Fujimori in Peru, repeat the same lie and ignore the people's vote. That the result be respected,” ex-Bolivian President Evo Morales exclaimed to bring the ember to his revolutionary sardine.

The new electoral entanglement repeats scenarios already experienced in the last elections in the region. This year, the indigenous candidate Yaku Pérez denounced fraud after the first round of elections in Ecuador, after not accessing the ballot by just 32,000 votes against who would be the final winner, Guillermo Lasso. He was unable to prove his accusations.

In 2019, the fraud promoted by the Bolivian ruling party caused the fall of the almighty Morales. The big difference with Peru is that on that occasion the Organization of American States (OAS) demonstrated the irregularities promoted from the power, something that does not happen in Peru, where the mission sent to the Andean country congratulated the ONPE and the Peruvian people for the election day.