Peru faces a polarizing presidential run-off vote. This is wherein a hard-left schoolteacher will face the far-right heiress to one of the country's most enduring political dynasties. A veteran teachers' union leader, Pedro Castillo, took pollsters and voters by surprise in the first-round vote on Sunday. He won by 18.47%, garnering 84% of the official vote counted.
Peru's Presidential Run-Off
Castillo is set to win the Andean country's first-round presidential election. He will then face a run-off vote in June with an electorate fractured following a year of economic and political crisis. The level of support falls short of the majority required to win outright. Castillo will then face the second-place candidate in a head-to-head vote.
On Sunday, another Peru spoke up at the presidential election's first round. That Peru is not made up of sophisticated capital citizens hooked on Twitter 24/7. Coming in second place is the conservative Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, with 14,5% of the vthe otes. Upon confirmation of the figures, Peru will head towards a June runoff between two candidates whose chances appeared slim a mere weeks ago, reported El Pais.
The 51-year-old primary school teacher and union leader was a shock winner following a late surge in the polls. Ipsos Peru's fast count showed him winning the presidential election, reported NBC News.
Ballots were being counted on Sunday in the Peruvian presidential elections. The run-off reportedly has no candidate that is able to ignite the crisis-weary country during its deadliest week of the COVID-19 pandemic ever since. An estimated 25 million people were qualified to vote the day after the nation reported its highest daily pandemic toll.
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Fujimori is closely followed by two more far-right candidates. Castillo was largely unknown prior to the polling day. He stunned Peru as he swept up votes in poorer regions of the country. He won in 16 of Peru's 24 regions and by over 50% in two of the poorest Andean states. According to Castillo, "The blindfold has just been taken off the eyes of the Peruvian people," reported The Guardian.
The official count displayed liberal economist Hernando de Soto in second place with 13.6 percent. The far-right's Rafael Lopez Aliaga came in third place with 12.9 percent. Conservative Keiko Fujimori came in fourth place also with 12.9 percent but was gaining momentum as ballots were counted.
Castillo rode a horse to his Chota voting station. It is located 1,000 kilometers from Lima. In the capital, Castillo comes across as an outlandish figure. However, in the central and southern regions of Peru, there is remarkable support for him.
With numerous people gobsmacked by Castillo's success, the unprecedented outcome is possibly to add to jitters over the future leadership of the world's second-largest copper producer. Political uncertainty has also weighed on the markets of Peru in the past few months.
Castillo fell short of the 51 percent necessitated to avoid a run-off slated for June 6. The two candidates with the highest number of votes will compete in the second round.
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