Original article: El audio filtrado que remece el triunfo de Keiko: Paz y Cerimedo hablan de votos, actas y sistema de IA en Perú

Leaked Audio Raises Questions About Keiko Fujimori’s Victory: Conversations on Votes, Ballots, and AI Systems in Peru

A recording attributed to right-wing operator Fernando Cerimedo has shaken Peru’s political landscape by revealing a discussion with Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz regarding the close victory of Keiko Fujimori in the second round of elections, mentioning votes and ballots.

In the recording, the Argentine—who has served as a consultant to Paz—even refers to the usage of an artificial intelligence system for the parallel vote counting.

The Bolivian president, in comments to EFE, did not deny the authenticity of the recording and asserted that the matter requires investigation.

According to the transcript, the conversation revolves around Paz inquiring about the situation of the runoff election. «How are things in Peru? Do you have any data there?» asks the Bolivian president, to which Cerimedo responds: «Keiko won.»

However, the conversation gains significant importance when the operator confesses that he facilitated a system to track the parallel vote count in real-time. «The issue is these guys, the business I rented to them, the voting system. The vote counting, the one we have with artificial intelligence and all that,» he is heard saying, likely referring to the AI program that he supplied to a group of former military personnel behind the website ‘Ojo de Cóndor’, a platform that operated as a parallel count to that released by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE).

As reported by La República, the recording also unveils details about the analysis of the observed ballots and includes Cerimedo asserting that, upon review, «they have no observations» and that the one thousand observed ballots from Lima represent «almost 25,000 votes of difference«.

When asked by Paz if those ballots could be annulled, the Argentine consultant replies: «They can’t take them away because they have nothing wrong.» He also mentions that there are «only about 33» that could add up to «100,000 votes» and that are «poorly written.»

With this information, Cerimedo concludes that, by adding the favorable ballots and the «89,000 overseas difference«, Fujimori «wins by 50,000 or 60,000 votes«.

It is worth noting that the counting of the second round of the Peruvian presidential elections, which concluded on June 29—22 days after the voting held on June 7—confirmed the narrow victory of ultra-right candidate Keiko Fujimori over leftist Roberto Sánchez, by a slim margin of 49,641 votes.

Connections Between Cerimedo and Fujimori

The judicial context of the political operator and digital strategist adds gravity to the case.

Since August 18, Cerimedo has been detained in Bolivia, facing currently four charges including attempted femicide against his ex-partner Nadia Beller; money laundering; and domestic violence.

Beller not only reported him as responsible for the assault but also revealed that Cerimedo confessed to being linked with Keiko Fujimori and other right-wing and far-right presidents and candidates in Latin America, using fake accounts and smear campaigns on social media and traditional media against rivals of his clients.

The leaked audio also casts doubt on Fujimori’s claims that she has no connection with the operator. However, she did not mention that she met with the Argentine on February 10 of this year, as shown in a photograph published by La República.

The image, which documents the connection between the two, reinforces suspicions about the operator’s influence on the Peruvian electoral process, especially considering that Fujimori’s party, Fuerza Popular, hired network expert Argentine Federico Falco, with whom Cerimedo worked during the presidential campaign of fellow far-right candidate Javier Milei.