By Marco Aquino
LIMA, June 15 (Reuters) - Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori extended her marginal lead over leftist rival Roberto Sanchez in Peru's contested presidential race on Monday, as the count of thousands of contested votes slowly trickled in.
Fujimori regained the lead in the race midway through last week, boosted by overseas votes, and on Monday was sitting at 50.051% of the vote, with a little over 18,300 votes separating her from Sanchez's 49.949%.
So far, 98.59% of votes have been tallied, according to Peru's National Office of Electoral Processes.
Peru’s electoral board began reviewing contested ballots from the June 7 runoff election last Thursday. The official results could still take days or weeks to be announced, according to authorities, in what is one of the closest elections in the country’s history.
Sanchez traveled over the weekend to the Andean region of Cusco, one of his electoral strongholds, where he met with supporters and said he had "suspicions" about the vote recount.
Last week, Sanchez requested that some 400,000 overseas votes be invalidated, citing irregularities in their transportation. The request was rejected by the authorities.
In recent days, Sanchez’s supporters have held marches against the electoral authority in the capital Lima, following calls by the leftist candidate to "defend the people's vote.” The demonstrations, which drew hundreds of participants, were peaceful.
Following the runoff election, the Organization of American States and European Union election observation missions agreed in separate press conferences that the voting had proceeded normally and, given the close results, urged the country to await the official tally.
Sanchez, whose rise has unsettled private investors, is running with the support of former leftist President Pedro Castillo, who was sentenced to 11 years in prison for attempting to dissolve Congress and seize broad powers in late 2022.
Financial markets rebounded last week as Fujimori edged ahead following a selloff prior to the election, driven by fears that Sanchez's policies could undermine economic stability, according to traders in the stock and foreign exchange markets.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
