Peru’s highest election authority announced Sunday it will address voting problems that caused a month-long delay in releasing April’s first-round presidential election results before the June 7 runoff.
The National Elections Board (JNE) formally declared right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and leftist Roberto Sanchez as the final two contenders for president. Officials also revealed plans to establish an expert committee with national and international members to provide supervision during the second voting round.
“We cannot deny that there were many difficulties and flaws in the logistical deployment by the organizing entity, ONPE,” JNE President Roberto Burneo told a press conference.
The April 12 voting faced significant problems including delayed polling station openings, forcing election officials to extend voting by an additional day, especially in the capital Lima. These issues led ultraconservative candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who came in third by a narrow margin, to claim fraud had occurred.
Burneo explained that the new oversight committee will have five members, including scholars from Peru, Chile, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico who specialize in cybersecurity and election procedures.
“We have incorporated all the lessons learned from the first round and are strengthening oversight,” Burneo said.
After officials announced the final candidates, Lopez Aliaga’s party indicated it would seek to have the first-round outcomes invalidated. The JNE declared the results “final and unappealable.”
“The electoral fraud in Peru has just been consummated,” Lopez Aliaga said in a post on X. “We will not accept results that are the product of fraud and corruption.”
