Peru’s discontented voters face straight left-right choice in election runoff
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Peru held its presidential runoff on June 7 between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez in a tight contest marked by deep political polarization and institutional instability. The election occurs as the country faces its ninth presidential change in a decade, with citizens concerned about security, economic performance, and democratic integrity. A Peruvian court ordered legal proceedings against Sánchez for alleged campaign financing irregularities just days before the vote.
Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of 1990s leader Alberto, is vying with a congressman to become country’s ninth president in a decade
Peruvians go to the polls on Sunday in an election runoff that pits a perennial rightwing candidate, Keiko Fujimori, against a leftist congressman, Roberto Sánchez. Amid rising crime, chronic political instability, corruption scandals and voter apathy, they are vying to become Peru’s ninth president in a decade.
Fujimori, who is the daughter of the late president Alberto Fujimori, won 17% of the vote in the first round in April. Sánchez, a former trade and tourism minister, took 12 % of the vote, edging out Rafael López Aliaga, an ultra-conservative former Lima mayor. The stage is set for a polarised left-right replay of the country’s last election in 2021.
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