A razor-thin margin

Roberto Sánchez of the leftist Juntos por el Perú held a tiny lead over conservative Keiko Fujimori on Tuesday as Peru's electoral authority counted the runoff ballots. With 95.6 percent of polling stations processed, Sánchez had 50.084 percent (8,899,257 votes) against Fujimori's 49.916 percent (8,869,481), a gap of fewer than 30,000 votes. The numbers could still flip: the lead changed hands several times overnight, and the margin has tightened with each update. The count has already evoked memories of the 2021 presidential runoff, when Pedro Castillo defeated Fujimori by just 44,000 votes.

Ballots still in transit

The outcome hinges on two remaining pools of votes: overseas ballots and contested polling-station logs. More than one million Peruvians are registered abroad, and roughly 400,000 voted in the first round; those ballots are arriving from 73 countries and are due to reach Lima by Wednesday. At home, 1,513 vote-count sheets have been flagged for irregularities or objections and must be resolved by special electoral juries. About 450,000 votes sit inside those contested acts, enough to erase Sánchez's advantage.

Candidates appeal for patience

Both candidates urged their supporters to await the official result.

“We are very confident and optimistic, but we have to wait for all the ballots to be counted.”

Sánchez thanked indigenous, rural and vulnerable sectors during a rally in central Lima.

“We must wait until the end. What is needed now is patience and serenity. We will respect the result, whatever it is.”

Fujimori also told her party lawyers to scrutinise every electoral minute.

“It's a technical tie; it could go either way. The result could be reversed in the coming hours; we're not yet talking about a winner.”

A country split along familiar lines

The vote has once again exposed Peru's geographic and social fissures. Fujimori dominates in Lima and along the coast, where early-counted votes gave her an initial lead. Sánchez draws his strength from the Andean highlands and the Amazon, whose ballots arrived later and progressively pushed him ahead. The fracture echoes the 2021 contest and a longer cycle of political turmoil: since 2016, Peru has cycled through eight presidents, many undone by corruption scandals or parliamentary clashes.

Roberto Sánchez8,899,257

Keiko Fujimori8,869,481

Roberto Sánchez

8899257

Keiko Fujimori

8869481

Data from the article text

The long wait for a result

Finalising the election will likely stretch into July. Roberto Burneo, head of the National Jury of Elections, said the definitive declaration "would be within the next 30 days". The timeline is driven by a legal requirement that every physical voting slip and protocol be transported to over one hundred counting offices, plus the adjudication of the contested acts. Neither Sánchez nor Fujimori commands a congressional majority, so the eventual winner will need to stitch together alliances to govern a country worn down by organised crime, extortion networks and institutional distrust.