LIMA, Peru (AP) — A razor-thin presidential runoff left Peruvians without a clear winner Monday, with conservative politician Keiko Fujimori and nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez virtually tied.
With 93% of ballots tallied, the figures showed Fujimori received 8.75 million votes, or 50.095%, while Sánchez earned 8.73 million votes, or 49.905%.
The winner will be the South American country's ninth president in 10 years. Fujimori, daughter of a disgraced former president, and Sánchez, an ally of an imprisoned ex-president, were on the runoff’s ballot after beating 33 other candidates in the vote in April, but neither earned even 20% of support. Electoral authorities took more than a month to declare them winners of that contest.
Roberto Burneo, the country’s chief electoral authority, asked voters and political organizations to “act with democratic responsibility” as the tallying process continues. He said the outcome will be available within 30 days.
In the capital, Lima, voter turnout throughout the day appeared lower than in the previous contest, with practically no lines in many voting centers, despite voting being mandatory. The slow counting pace is due to a law that requires each ballot and each tally sheet, which summarizes the votes from each polling station, to be taken to one of more than 100 offices to be tallied. Additionally, ballots and tally sheets must arrive in Lima from 63 countries to be counted.
Crime, particularly extortion, was the overarching concern for voters. A 2025 national survey carried out by the state’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics found that 84% of respondents in urban areas feared becoming victims of a crime in the following 12 months.
Experts attribute the increasing power of organized crime in Peru to the profits that decades-old criminal groups are earning from illegal gold mining in the Andes and the Amazon.
And the candidates' crime-fighting proposals were not enough to make inroads with voters, many of whom associate each aspiring president with controversial Peruvian politicians.
Fujimori is linked to the authoritarian and corrupt legacy of the government of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, in the 1990s. She became Peru's first lady in 1994 after her parents’ separation.
Sánchez is one of the closest allies of imprisoned former President Pedro Castillo, whom many perceive as corrupt and chaotic. Castillo’s 16-month term saw more than 70 Cabinet changes.
Official results from April’s election showed Fujimori received 17% of the vote and Sánchez got 12%. A nationwide poll conducted a week before the election by the firm Ipsos found that similar shares of voters were supporting the candidates, with about 3 in 10 saying they were undecided.
Food vendor Magali Quiquia said she cast a blank ballot because she did not find either candidate convincing,
“Five years ago, I was disappointed by Castillo with his corruption, and … Roberto Sánchez is the same," Quiquia, 44, said. She added that she believes “Fujimori hasn’t done anything either” despite her party having multiple seats in Congress.
Voting is mandatory for Peruvians aged 18 to 70. Failure to do so results in a fine of up to $32.
More than 27 million people are registered. Of those, about 1.2 million were expected to cast ballots from abroad, mainly in the United States and Argentina.
For most of her fourth presidential campaign, Fujimori promised to crack down on crime. Her proposals included implementing technology to track extortion, militarizing borders and increasing the presence of police and military personnel in high-risk areas. Fujimori, 51, also said that prisoners will be required to work and “repay society” should she win.
In the only debate before the runoff, Fujimori defended her father’s government and promised to defeat crime just as he defeated the Shining Path, a violent extremist group. After the vote counting began, she told her supporters to remain calm.
Fujimori on Monday told her more than 100 legal representatives throughout Peru that they would have to “fight” and “analyze” any ballot under dispute, but that she would respect “the results, whoever the winner may be.” She said results show a great division among voters, adding that party leaders must “build bridges” after the election is over.
Meanwhile, Sánchez, a former minister now popular with rural voters, during the campaign pledged to combat corruption within the police force and promote reforms that would enable the military to support security efforts. The 57-year-old, who wears a wide-brimmed peasant hat gifted by Castillo, told debate viewers that he would be open to “all options to generate jobs and progress” but also emphasized his support for Chinese investments.
He appeared on a Lima hotel balcony on Sunday and thanked the Indigenous communities, farmers and other supporters “who have decided to come and reclaim the government for the people.”
The runoff’s winner will be sworn in to a five-year term on July 28.
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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.
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