Peru’s Election Update: Sánchez Leads Fujimori by 23,000 Votes with 95% of Ballots Counted

Original article: Perú voto a voto: Sánchez supera a Fujimori por 23 mil votos con 95% de actas contabilizadas

Leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez from Juntos por el Peru is currently ahead of right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori by 23,000 votes in the ongoing tally for the second round of presidential elections in the South American nation.

According to the 95.844% of the ballots counted by the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Sánchez holds 50.065% of the votes while Fujimori has 49.935%.

As of the report released this Tuesday morning, the leftist candidate has recorded 8,907,797 votes; while the right-wing candidate has a total of 8,884,515 votes, falling short again in her fourth attempt to secure the presidency of Peru.

With this tally, the psychologist and congressman gains a 0.23 percentage point advantage over his opponent.

Peru held one of the most fiercely contested elections in recent years last Sunday, with over 27.3 million citizens turning out to the polls to decide not just who will lead the nation from 2026 to 2031, but also the governmental direction of a country that has seen a decade of instability with eight presidents. Citizens had to choose between two radically opposing proposals: the progressive Roberto Sánchez and the representative of Fujimorism.

These tight figures indicate that the election outcome in Peru will be determined vote by vote, and according to the latest report from ONPE, there are still 2,314 ballots left to count, mostly from citizens who voted abroad.

Simultaneously, the organization reported that there are 1,661 outstanding ballots awaiting submission to the special electoral juries (JEE), following some type of challenge or observation, which could also be forwarded to the National Jury of Elections (JNE) for review.

Roberto Sánchez Expresses Optimism and Calls for Respecting the Results

Amid the official tally, Roberto Sánchez stated that while he is “confident and optimistic” about winning the election, he urged patience until the vote counting is complete, reported La Nación.

For this reason, he made a “strong appeal to all political actors to respect the results, whatever they may be, as Peru needs stability.