Peru Presidential Race Too Close to Call as Votes Trickle In
A nationwide quick count by pollster Transparencia-IPSOS placed challenger Roberto Sanchez narrowly ahead with 50.3% of the vote against Keiko Fujimori's 49.7% — a margin so slim it offered little certainty to either side.
An earlier IPSOS exit poll, released moments after polling stations closed, had pointed in the opposite direction, showing Fujimori ahead at 50.7% against Sanchez's 49.3%. Subsequent projections, however, revealed the gap closing rapidly.
Addressing reporters at a Lima hotel, Fujimori urged restraint in drawing conclusions from the preliminary figures.
"It would be irresponsible to define the result based on a sample such as the quick count, which uses approximately 1,000 polling station reports out of 99,000 nationwide," she said. "We need to count every tally sheet. Whatever the results may be, we will accept them, and I hope my opponent will do the same."
Representatives of Fujimori's Popular Force party separately called on poll watchers to "defend the vote," urging supporters to "remain vigilant" as results continued to emerge.
Sanchez, running under the banner of the Together for Peru party, issued a measured statement following the exit poll release, pledging full respect for the official outcome while calling on electoral authorities to safeguard every ballot cast.
"Of course we have faith. We are optimistic, but today everything depends on your work as a poll watcher," Sanchez told supporters. "We have grown in Lima, we have grown in the north, and our support has strengthened in the south."
As the night wore on, the two campaigns staked out their respective corners of the capital. Fujimori's team gathered at a hotel in Lima's upscale San Borja district, while several hundred Sanchez backers converged on Plaza San Martín in the city's historic center, where the candidate addressed the crowd from a balcony.
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