LIMA (Dispatches) - Socialist Pedro Castillo is closing in on victory in Peru’s presidential election, prompting allegations of fraud by conservative rival Keiko Fujimori and the U.S.
Castillo on Thursday held some 50.2% of the vote and a 0.36 percentage point lead with 99.4% of ballots tallied.
The school teacher and political novice has rattled the copper-rich Andean nation’s traditionally political and business elite as he has won widespread grassroots backing for pledges to rewrite the constitution and redistribute mining wealth.
“The people have awakened,” Castillo told supporters from a balcony in Lima late on Thursday, calling on citizens to recover the country for all Peruvians after a divisive election race.
Fujimori has not conceded defeat, and is seeking to annul some 500,000 votes which she says are suspicious.
Independent electoral observers, however, say the vote was carried out cleanly, while Castillo’s Peru Libre party says there is no evidence of suspicious activity.
The ethics tribunal of the National Jury of Elections (JNE), the body charged with overseeing the legality of the electoral process, said on Thursday that throwing doubt on the results without evidence was “irresponsible.”
Washington, nevertheless, said that electoral authorities should be allowed to look into any fraud allegations.
“We look forward to working with the duly elected candidate,” a US State Department spokesperson said.
Despite being the world no.2 copper producer, Peru posted its worst economic plunge in three decades last year. The country has been hit by the world’s deadliest COVID-19 outbreak by deaths per capita.
Last year, it saw three presidents in a week amid political scandals and protests.
Despite the U.S. casting aspersions, many were already celebrating Castillo’s victory in Latin America.
Argentina’s President Alfredo Fernandez was the first world leader to congratulate Castillo, saying on Twitter he had contacted the “President-elect” and expressed wishes to join forces for the benefit of Latin America.