Peru extends voting for president and Congress amid delays at polling sites

Peruvian police and investigators have descended on the country’s election headquarters, investigating delays that prevented voting from taking place at polling stations during Sunday’s presidential and legislative poll.Prosecutors and election officials said the visit was part of an investigation into how a failure to deliver election materials had prevented tens of thousands of people from voting, prompting unproven claims of fraud.The delays at some polling stations, especially in the capital Lima, muddied what was already a complex race among a record 36 presidential candidates.The election, which was supposed to help Peruvians reset their political course after years of turbulence, quickly descended into confusion as many voters queued up on Sunday morning only to find that ballots had not arrived.The ONPE, a national body overseeing the elections, initially reported that just 1 per cent of polling stations had experienced delayed openings because a private company contracted to deliver ballots failed to show up on time.By early afternoon, however, another national electoral authority said that as many as 30 per cent of polling sites had failed to open by 1pm.