LIMA, Peru (AP) – Economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had a razor-thin lead over the daughter of an imprisoned former president in Peru’s presidential election, as Peruvians nervously awaited results trickling in from remote parts of the Andean nation.
With about half of polling stations counted late Sunday night, the 77-year-old Kuczynski had 50.6 percent of the votes compared to 49.4 percent for his rival Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former strongman Alberto Fujimori.
While votes from Peru’s hinterland, where support for Fujimori is strongest, will take days to come in, Kuczynski supporters were optimistic they’d prevail after two unofficial quick counts showed him winning by at least 1 percentage point. While that is within the statistical margin of error of the counts, the pollsters have a track record of accuracy.
Addressing cheering supporters from the balcony of his campaign headquarters, the former World Bank economist urged them to be vigilant against fraud at the ballot box but otherwise sounded as if he had already been declared the winner.
“We’re going to have a government built on consensus. No more low blows or fights,” said the economist, who supported fellow conservative Fujimori in the 2011 runoff won by President Ollanta Humala.