Left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez concedes Peru vote to Keiko Fujimori

Announcement comes days after Peru’s electoral agency certified right-wing Fujimori as winner in razor-thin race.Left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez has conceded to Keiko Fujimori in Peru’s presidential race, days after the electoral authority declared her the victor in last month’s run-off.The statement on Monday caps an election season marred by logistical issues at polling sites, long vote counts and allegations of fraud.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Thousands in Peru protest Fujimori presidential runlist 2 of 3Fujimori vs Sanchez: What to know about Peru’s presidential run-off electionlist 3 of 3Peru elects Keiko Fujimori in victory for Latin American rightend of listSanchez and his party said they “recognised ⁠⁠that the ⁠⁠National Elections Board had officially proclaimed the ⁠⁠electoral results”. Sanchez had said in June he would not recognise a Fujimori presidency and would instead launch “a movement of popular and patriotic resistance”.Fujimori and Sanchez had progressed to the June 7 run-off after outpacing 33 other candidates in the April general election.In the final vote count, certified by the National Jury of Elections (JNE) last week, Fujimori defeated Sanchez by a razor-thin margin, winning about 9,223,000 votes to 9,173,000 for Sanchez.Sanchez, a member of Peru’s Congress, had fostered support among rural and indigenous Peruvians, following closely in the footsteps of former president Pedro Castillo, who was impeached and arrested in 2022 after attempting to dissolve Congress.He even wore the same style of wide-brimmed straw hat, common in the northern Andean region, as Castillo on the campaign trail.Among other platforms, he called for the overhaul of Peru’s constitution to grant greater recognition and autonomy to the country’s varied ethnic groups.He had also called for state oversight of natural resources and for increased taxes on the highest earners.