With all the votes counted, the electoral board said Kuczynski received 51.1 percent compared to 49.9 percent for Keiko Fujimori, daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori.
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Rather, they urged supporters to cast a tactical vote for Kuczynski, in full recognition that they would have to fight against numerous economic policies he is likely to push. Frank Bajak, The Associated Press’ former longtime chief of Andean new, joins us to discuss the election.
Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori waves to the press as she leaves of her home in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, June 8, 2016.
The head of ONPE said disputed ballots would be settled by special electoral panels “soon”.
ONPE, which moved back a scheduled press conference on Thursday, said it would announce official results of all tallied votes sometime later in the day.
It cautioned, however, that thousands of unclear votes from Sunday’s run-off still had to be examined by electoral scrutineers.
Outgoing President Ollanta Humala and the leaders of Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Mexico congratulated Kuczynski after the latest official results on Thursday made it almost impossible for Fujimori to catch up even though Kuczynski led by only 40,000 votes.
Kuczynski’s team said it saw victory as likely and had started preparing paperwork needed for a possible transfer of power from President Ollanta Humala.
(AP Photo/Martin Mejia). Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori smiles as she leaves of her home in a auto in Lima, Peru, Wednesday, June 8, 2016. “And we want a united country that is conciliated, and ready for dialogue”, said Kuczynski.
Fujimori’s father served as president from 1990 to 2000 but was forced to resign after bribery and arms trafficking scandals emerged around his spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos.
To kickstart the economy, Kuczynski has proposed widening the fiscal deficit, lowering sales taxes, and investing in new infrastructure projects.
Kuczynski, 77, said he would wait for final results from ONPE before claiming victory, but he addressed Peruvians as though he had won. But she never acknowledged he committed any crimes.
Ms Fujimori has yet to concede, but Mr Kuczynski tweeted his thanks to the Peruvian people. Popular Force is the country’s best organized party and her younger brother, a lawmaker, has said he would run for president in the next election if she lost.
Both Kuczynski and Fujimori promised to continue the free-market polices that her father introduced in the early 1990s and that three successive democratic governments kept intact.
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A former prime minister and the son of European immigrants, Kuczynski is more liberal on social issues than Fujimori.
