Pressure mounts on Peru’s election authorities amid presidential race delay

The vote count continues to determine who will join conservative Keiko Fujimori in Peru’s presidential run-off in June.Calls to remove the head of Peru’s electoral authority have intensified as delays and alleged irregularities clouded the presidential vote count.As of Friday, no clear challenger has emerged to face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in the June 7 run-off.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Peru holds presidential election amid a decade of political tumultlist 2 of 3Peru’s presidential election headed to run off amid logistical chaoslist 3 of 3Peru’s ballot count drags on amid frustration with presidential electionend of listThe general election was held on Sunday, but an extension was granted to accommodate for the difficulties in ballot distribution.Pressure has mounted against the head of Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Piero Corvetto. Complaints over errors and logistical problems during Sunday’s election have been compounded by a slow tally that has rattled investor confidence and heightened uncertainty.According to the ONPE, leftist Roberto Sanchez and ultraconservative former Lima Mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga remain locked in a close battle for second place, separated by about 13,000 votes as of Friday.With 93.3 percent of the ballots counted, Sanchez held 12.0 percent of the vote and Lopez Aliaga 11.9 percent.Fujimori, meanwhile, remained firmly in first place with 17 percent, positioning her for the run-off. Final results could take up to two weeks, according to local election-monitoring group Transparencia.The vote counting has been further delayed by the roughly 5 percent of ballots that were identified for review due to missing information or errors in polling station records, according to ONPE data. Those ballots will be reviewed by a special electoral jury before being included in the final count, officials said.