By Marco Aquino and Lucinda Elliott
LIMA, April 14 (Reuters) - Frustration mounted in Peru on Tuesday as the vote count in a general election stretched into a third day, prompting congressional scrutiny and fresh fraud allegations, even as the runoff presidential candidate set to face conservative Keiko Fujimori remained unclear.
Fujimori, a former congresswoman and the daughter of late former President Alberto Fujimori, remained in first place with 16.8% of the vote in Sunday's election, according to the official tally, with about 80% of ballots counted.
She is set to advance to a runoff expected to occur on June 7, with no candidate anywhere near the 50% needed to win outright. It is Fujimori's fourth bid for the presidency.
A tight race is unfolding behind her, with right-wing former Lima Mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga in second place with about 12% of the vote, and center-left candidate Jorge Nieto close behind with roughly 11%, according to figures from ONPE, the Andean nation's electoral authority.
Roberto Sanchez, a left-wing congressman, was in fourth place, with just over 10% of the vote.
As counting continued, allegations of fraud started to spread more widely. Lopez Aliaga, who earlier alleged that a "brutal fraud" was taking place, was joined on Tuesday by Sanchez, who said he had concerns about the integrity of the process, though neither provided evidence to back their assertions.
Some critics said the slow pace of the count reflected what had happened in previous elections in the copper-rich country, noting that former President Pedro Castillo only was officially confirmed eight days after the 2021 runoff.
ELECTORAL OBSERVERS
European Union election observers said they had found no concrete evidence to support allegations of fraud that have circulated since Sunday, while acknowledging significant challenges.
"It is clear that there have been serious problems," Annalisa Corrado, head of the EU Election Observation Mission to Peru, said in a press conference on Tuesday, adding that observers had "not found objective elements to support the narrative of fraud."
The prolonged vote count followed logistical failures that hampered the delivery of electoral materials on Sunday, prompting authorities to extend voting hours into Monday for more than 50,000 people who were unable to cast ballots on election day, mostly in parts of Lima, the country's capital and home to roughly a third of the electorate.
Piero Corvetto, head of Peru's electoral authority, appeared before Congress at lawmakers' request to explain the delays. He denied that any serious irregularities had occurred, attributing the delays to an isolated error in the distribution of voting materials. Corvetto apologized for the disruptions.
The election, which included races for Congress, has posed numerous challenges for voters as well as electoral authorities, Corvetto added, following lengthy political turmoil in Peru that has eroded confidence in institutions and left many voters deeply disillusioned.
Peru has cycled through multiple presidents in recent years, fueling skepticism that any incoming administration will last a full five‑year term amid repeated impeachments, corruption scandals and fragile governing coalitions.
The country's interim President Jose Balcazar was installed by Peruvian lawmakers in February, replacing ousted President Jose Jeri, who was voted out of office by Congress after just four months following a scandal involving undisclosed meetings with a Chinese businessman.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Lucinda Elliott; Additional reporting by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez; Editing by Cassandra Garrison and Paul Simao)
