Description: Peru’s National Jury of Elections (JNE) has requested a detailed IT audit of the 12 May general elections, citing possible fraud and other administrative irregularities. Almost 3% of the complete votes remain unaccounted for, as left – wing congressman Roberto Sanchez and ultra – conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga are separated by less than 28 thousand votes in second place. Keiko Fujimori has secured more than 17 percent of the votes, awaiting a runoff challenger. Piero Corvetto, the chief of Peru’s election authority resigned from his post citing delayed results, however, he denied any wrongdoing and irregularities in the election process. The election results have a final deadline until the end of May when the second candidate in the Jun runoff is expected to be determined.
Impact: Peru’s controversial election results are likely part of the continued issues the country is facing in terms of corruption, ties between politicians and organized crime figures and a geopolitical rivalry between China and the US for the country’s commercial power. Corvetto’s suspicious resigning is likely due to internal political pressure while a protracted audit and additional investigation could provoke civil unrest that would likely plunge the country into a renewed political crisis. International observers haven’t reported any election controversies, which likely reinforces the argument that administratively, the remaining 3% of the ballots remain unaccounted for due to political calculations. Immediate crisis is unlikely, although the continued protraction of the counting process could lead towards civil unrest.