Peru’s electoral board rejects demand to annul vote as runoff race tightens

Peru’s National Elections Board (JNE) unanimously declared on Friday that a request to annul and rerun the presidential election – as demanded by candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga – is “unfeasible.”

The ruling follows a week of mounting tension fueled by Lopez Aliaga’s claims of “premeditated fraud.”

In an official statement, the JNE plenary session explained that the decision to reject the annulment was reached “following a technical and legal analysis” and after reviewing reports from relevant electoral authorities.

The board emphasized that while the first round is over, the electoral process itself has not concluded as Special Electoral Boards are currently reviewing more than 4,000 contested vote tallies (roughly 5% of the total).

With 95% of ballots processed by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), the race to decide who will face frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in the June 7 runoff remains a statistical dead heat.

Roberto Sanchez, a former minister under the detained ex-President Pedro Castillo, has surged in the late count. Campaigning on a nationalist platform that advocates for "refounding the homeland" and defending Castillo’s legacy, Sanchez has capitalized on strong support from rural and southern regions.

Conversely, Lopez Aliaga has launched a sit-in protest outside the JNE headquarters in Lima. Citing the alleged disenfranchisement of thousands of voters due to logistical chaos in the April 12 elections, the former Lima mayor has threatened "civil insurgency" if his demands are not met.

The margin between Sanchez and Lopez Aliaga has fluctuated around 20,000 votes, leaving the country in a state of deep political suspense.

While the EU election observer mission acknowledged that logistical failures were "evident" and "egregious," it stated there is no evidence to support a systemic narrative of fraud.

Under Peruvian law, an election can only be annulled if irregularities are proven to have materially altered the outcome – a threshold that electoral experts say has not yet been met despite the procedural errors documented on election day.

Authorities are continuing to rule on requests for annulments and objections to specific polling stations and the JNE urged the public to rely on official information and called on political organizations to “act responsibly” to preserve democratic stability.