Peru's National Elections Jury (JNE) has dismissed as inadmissible the appeals filed by leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez, which sought to annul the results of 1,751 polling stations in Lima and another 647 installed in the United States.
"The JNE Plenum published on its institutional portal the voting results of the files corresponding to the appeals of the Juntos por el Perú party, heard in public hearing (...) In this way, the two appeals requesting the massive nullification of polling stations in Lima and America were declared unfounded," the organization argued in an official statement.
The decision was made after the highest electoral body, the JNE plenum, analyzed the files submitted by the Special Electoral Jury (JEE). These appeals were admitted for processing once the political party corrected the formal irregularities that had been detected initially.
During the public session, the magistrates posed questions to the lawyers of Juntos por el Perú regarding the grounds for their annulment requests. The discussion focused on the alleged irregularities denounced by the party in various polling stations both in the capital and abroad.
The JNE's ruling is unappealable and consolidates the validity of the questioned polling stations, practically concluding the procedure to officialize the results of the second round of elections.
Fujimori consolidates her lead and Sánchez mobilizes in Lima
With 99.6% of the ballots counted, far-right candidate Keiko Fujimori is emerging as the next president of Peru, leading her contender, the leftist Roberto Sánchez, by more than 40,000 votes.
Despite this lead, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) has not yet proclaimed herself the winner of the second round, which represents her fourth attempt to reach the head of the Executive.
Meanwhile, Sánchez, presidential hopeful for Juntos por el Perú, led a mobilization in downtown Lima this Friday "in defense of the popular vote." The march, which proceeded peacefully, was accompanied by a large security deployment of about 7,000 police officers.
In his speech, the candidate criticized the criminal complaint filed against leaders of his party for calling the protest and asserted the non-violent nature of it. Furthermore, he reiterated his objections to the electoral process and stated emphatically that "the rules of the game should never have been changed for this second round."