translated from Spanish: Peru: Keiko Fujimori rejects defeat and maintains that there are still minutes to be resolved

Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori declared that, despite the fact that the counting of votes in Peru has officially concluded with a virtual victory for Pedro Castillo, “the most important thing” is missing, which is the resolution of the minutes appealed by her party and the requests for the annulment of 800 voting records. In front of hundreds of supporters carrying Peruvian flags, Fujimori thanked them for their support and said that “we are going to defend democracy in Peru,” asking them to remain vigilant and in peaceful mobilizations. From her local supporter in downtown Lima, the right-wing candidate of Fuerza Popular said she is excited “to feel the strength, the affection, the trust of all of you, dear friends (but) let’s not be confused.” Today a counting result of the ONPE (National Office of Electoral Processes) has come out, but the most important thing is missing, which is the vote on the appealed minutes, those appealed by the minutes observed, and the more than 800 minutes by request for nullity,” Fujimori said in reference to the observations he has presented for alleged irregularities and suspicions of fraud at the table. However, so far, the National Election Board (JNE), peru’s highest electoral body, has already rejected most of the applications for annulment, including some in the second instance, and only a little more than a hundred minutes remain to be resolved.” We trust in the electoral bodies, but above all we trust in the popular will, and we know that when they analyze these irregularities, the most likely thing is that they will give us the reason, “added the candidate, who ran for the third time for the presidency of Peru.With all the voting records counted, Castillo obtained 8,835,579 votes (50.12 %), a difference of 44,058 votes over Fujimori , which received the support of 8,791,521 voters (49.87%). GOLPISTASFujimori rejected the accusations that “there would be coup plotters” in his entourage, alluding to the calls to ignore the elections made by some figures who publicly announced their support for the candidate. According to him, the description of a coup leader only seeks to prevent “the Peruvian people from knowing the truth.” We are seeking to know the truth and we have every right to do so,” he said. In that sense, he reiterated the call to his followers to wait for the resolution of the electoral juries “with great prudence, that is very important, let us not step on the stick, our marches are peaceful, with our hearts raised, with pride, we want to defend the present and the future of the country.” On this day, the Ombudsman’s Office issued a statement in which it stated “categorically that, during the electoral supervision carried out by our institution, throughout the electoral process no attempt to alter the will of the people has been warned of.” It also rejected any speech or act that implies ignorance of the election results to be officially and timely announced by the electoral authority and of any attempt to affect the constitutional order.

Original source in Spanish