translated from Spanish: OAS Rules Out “Serious Irregularities” in Peruvian Elections

The electoral observation mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) ruled out the existence of “serious irregularities” in the Peruvian elections held last Sunday, contrary to what was denounced by candidate Keiko Fujimori who is losing in the vote count. This was reported in a communique by the head of the mission, former Paraguayan Foreign Minister Ruben Ramirez Lezcano, who stressed that in all the meetings he held during his work “he observed a positive electoral process” in which there were “substantive improvements between the first and second rounds.” The diplomat also noted that “the mission has not detected any serious irregularities.” The mission is confident that the electoral authorities will continue to carry out the serious and professional work they have done so far. It also calls for all political actors to be given the necessary guarantees of a democratic process, for the appeals submitted to be decouted in accordance with the law and for the popular will to be recognized and respected once this stage is concluded,” the observer said. Ramirez indicated that his mission was received by The President of the Republic, Francisco Sagasti, to discuss the observation work carried out in Peru, as well as by the president of the National Elections Jury (JNE), Jorge Luis Salas Arenas, and the head of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), Piero Corvetto, to collect their balance regarding the electoral process and the progress in the processing of minutes. He also met with Fujimori, of the Popular Force party, and with The Free Peru candidate, Pedro Castillo, who leads the vote count. In his communique, Ramirez highlighted “the agreement of both candidates not to be proclaimed winners until all the challenges have been resolved, to respect the guarantees of the Peruvian electoral process and institutions, and to recognize the electoral result once the jurisdictional phase of the election has been released.” FRAUD IN MESAPese to this report of the OAS and other electoral observer organizations that ruled out the existence of fraud in the elections, Fujimori announced last Wednesday that he would challenge and seek to annul nearly 200,000 votes under accusations of irregularities and “fraud at the table.” Without presenting reliable evidence, Fujimori’s team gave as arguments alleged falsifications of signatures of table members, or falsifications of table results only because they did not record a single vote for the candidate.” We have seen a systematic intention by Free Peru to violate the will of the people,” Fujimori said.

Original source in Spanish