Thousands of Peruvians took to the streets on Saturday, June 26, amid uncertainty over the outcome of the close presidential election on June 6, blocked by legal challenges.
Supporters of Pedro Castillo marched through central Lima to Plaza San Martin, one block from the headquarters of the electoral jury that will decide the outcome, with banners and photos of the socialist candidate, demanding that his electoral victory be confirmed .
A few streets away, thousands of other people supporting Keiko Fujimori marched with Peruvian flags and banners that read “No to fraud”, to arrive in Plaza Bolognesi, where a stage had been erected.
Thin advance
Pedro Castillo has a slim 44,000 vote lead over Keiko Fujimori as all the ballots have been counted. But her right-wing rival sought to invalidate votes, largely in rural areas that supported the leftist, claiming there had been fraud, but with little evidence.
Pedro Castillo’s party, Free Peru, denied the fraud allegations, while international election observers said the vote was conducted in a compliant manner. The US State Department described the process as a “Model of democracy”.