The second round of the Peruvian presidential elections has taken an unexpected turn. Roberto Sánchez has surpassed Keiko Fujimori for the first time in the official vote count, taking the lead in the race when 93.92% of the ballots have been tallied.
According to data from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), the candidate from Juntos por el Perú has reached 50.008% of the votes, while the candidate from Fuerza Popular remains at 49.992%, a difference of just 3,000 votes that keeps the outcome completely open.
Sánchez's progress has been due to the progressive counting of votes from rural areas of the country, where the leftist candidate has received significantly greater support than in large urban areas.
Over the past few hours, the contender has been reducing Fujimori's lead tenth by tenth until managing to pull ahead for the first time since the start of the scrutiny.
Rural vote changes the course of the election
The evolution of the count reflects the different geographical distribution of support for both candidates. While Fujimori has achieved her best results in Lima and other large cities, Sánchez has consolidated a wide lead in numerous inland regions, especially in rural areas where thousands of votes were still to be counted.
Furthermore, Sánchez has championed the political legacy of former president Pedro Castillo during the campaign, who is currently imprisoned after his failed attempt at a self-coup. This identification has allowed him to mobilize part of the electorate that supported the former leader.
The key now lies in the overseas vote
Despite the shift recorded in the scrutiny, the result is far from being considered definitive. With such a narrow difference between the two contenders, the outcome could be decided by the votes of Peruvians residing abroad.
More than one million Peruvian citizens are eligible to vote outside the country, although the counting of those ballots has not yet begun. Nor is there currently an official figure on the level of participation registered in consulates and diplomatic representations.
Past precedents favor Fujimori. In the first round of these elections, more than 400,000 Peruvians residing abroad participated, and the majority of those votes leaned towards center-right and right-wing options.
With less than 94% of the ballots counted and a difference of barely a few thousandths between both candidates, Peru faces decisive hours to know who will occupy the Presidency of the country.