Former Wall Street investor Pedro Pablo Kuczynski appeared to win Peru’s presidential election as partial results showed him with a narrow, but steady lead over Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of an imprisoned former authoritarian leader.
With 78 percent of all votes counted early yesterday, Kuczynski — known by his initials PPK — had 50.8 percent support, while Fujimori trailed on 49.2 percent. His lead was wider than it had been earlier in the count.
Fujimori had for long been the favorite to win the election, but support for her melted away in the final days of campaigning as Peruvians weighed the legacy of her father Alberto Fujimori and fresh scandals involving her close advisers.
“It’s clear that PPK won,” said Alfredo Torres, the director of Ipsos in Peru. “The gap is no longer narrowing, but widening.”
Final results in what appeared to be Peru’s closest election in at least three decades were expected later yesterday.
Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former prime minister, investor and World Bank economist, portrayed himself as an honest and experienced leader who would clean up corruption, ensure every town in Peru has piped water and revive economic growth that has slowed on weaker prices for Peru’s mineral exports.
Despite endorsing Fujimori during her first presidential bid in 2011, Kuczynski swept up the support of her critics from across the political spectrum and stepped up attacks against her in the final days of campaigning.
“We want a democratic country, a country committed to dialogue,” a jubilant Kuczynski said as he waved to supporters from a balcony at his campaign headquarters on Sunday evening before the partial count was announced.
While both candidates are fiscal conservatives who would maintain a free-market model in the resource-rich Andean economy, their styles and approaches differ widely. The campaign pitted the Fujimori family’s brand of right-wing populism against Kuczynski’s elite background and stiff technocratic style.
“Peru will be much better off with PPK. I’m very proud that Peru remembered what happened years ago. I have family members who had to leave the country because of Fujimori,” said Alexandra Gamarra, a 25-year-old university student.
If he wins, Kuczynski will have to reckon with a solid majority of Fujimori’s party in Congress and a leftist party that has promised not to align with either of them.
Fujimori, 41, a former congresswoman, has spent years trying to broaden her appeal beyond loyalists to her controversial father in her bid to become Peru’s first female president.
In an emotional speech before the partial vote-count was known, Fujimori thanked her orange-clad supporters, but remained upbeat.
“This is a tight vote without a doubt ... what we’re seeing is the vitality of democracy in our country, and that fills me with pride,” Fujimori said as she gave the crowd the thumbs-up.
Many voters remained wary of her, especially after a senior aide stepped down amid allegations that linked him to money laundering and drug trafficking.
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