LIMA, (Reuters) – Former investment banker Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had a wafer-thin lead yesterday over rival Keiko Fujimori in the latest tally from Peru’s presidential race, with tens of thousands of votes from abroad and in remote jungle villages still to be counted.
The results in Peru’s tightest election in at least 50 years gave Kuczynski a 0.34 percentage point edge over Fujimori, the daughter of a jailed former president.
Ballots from Peruvians living in the United States and Europe were still trickling in would likely decide the election. A partial count suggested they would favor Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former prime minister who worked for years on Wall Street.
The margin between the two business-friendly candidates widened to 57,000 votes in the latest update by Peru’s electoral office, ONPE, two days after polls closed.
Preliminary results on Sunday and quick counts of sample ballots by reputable polling firms had put Fujimori, the daughter of jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori, behind Kuczynski by about one percentage point.
“We’re optimistic,” Kuczynski told reporters as he headed to a country club in Lima’s financial district to work out.
With the race so close, Fujimori, who has largely been out of the public eye since Sunday, does not plan to accept possible defeat until 100 percent of the votes are counted, a person close to the candidate said on condition of anonymity.
TV images showed Fujimori smiling and waving from a car on Tuesday.
