The Peruvian general elections have continued for a second consecutive day, despite major problems with delivery that disrupted the voting in several polling booths. Officials confirmed that due to technical and logistical issues, tens-of-thousands of voters were not able to vote on Sunday.
In order to address this problem, the authorities granted a 1-day extension allowing over 50,000 voters affected by this issue to cast their votes on Monday.
Voting chaos reported across multiple regions
Some polling stations opened in Lima late while others didn’t open at all. Other overseas polling centres reported similar issues, such as those in Orlando, Florida, and Paterson, New Jersey.
The officials blamed the contracted delivery firm for not delivering essential materials in time. This led to a widespread disturbance on Election Day.
The race for the top candidates is tight
Keiko Fujimori, the conservative candidate, was slightly in front of Rafael Lopez Aliaga (the former Mayor of Lima) after an early count of about half of the votes. The race to second is still very close.
A candidate who wins outright requires a minimum of 50 percent. It now appears likely that the two top candidates will face off in a runoff on 7th June.
Uncertainty and large electorates
Over 27 million Peruvians had the right to vote, and they chose both a president and representatives for Congress.
Jose Maria Balcazar has served as interim president since February.
Background: Political instability
Peru is still facing long-term political instability. In the last decade, there have been multiple resignations and impeachments of Presidents. Ollanta Huala was the last president to serve a full-term, governing from 2011 until 2016.
