\n Voting stations closed Sunday in Peru's presidential election, with exit polls showing four-time candidate Keiko Fujimori with the slenderest of leads over her leftist rival.\n<\/p>\n
\n Pollsters at Ipsos and other firms said Fujimori led Roberto Sanchez by about one percentage point -- 50.7 percent versus 49.3 percent -- a statistical tie.\n<\/p>\n
\n Crime and anger over chronic political instability dominated the race to choose the country's ninth leader in a decade.\n<\/p>\n
\n Many voters are just hoping the election can end years of political chaos that has seen a string of presidents jailed, deposed and impeached.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We have to choose between the 'lesser evil',\" said disgruntled 23?year?old voter Renzo Masa.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fujimori, 51, is hoping to ride a wave of support for right-wing candidates who have won recent elections in Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador with a tough-on-crime message.\n<\/p>\n
\n She appeals to the legacy of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, who stabilized the economy and crushed a Maoist insurgency, but was convicted of corruption and crimes against humanity.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sanchez, a 57-year-old former psychologist, surged late in the race to reach the runoff, thanks to support in poorer rural areas.\n<\/p>\n
\n He has moderated his early calls for \"radical change\" and told AFP he wants a \"respectful\" relationship with US President Donald Trump.\n<\/p>\n
\n April's first round was marred by logistical problems and a vote count that took weeks to complete, deepening distrust in Peru's creaking institutions.\n<\/p>\n
\n From the Andes to the Amazon, around 27 million Peruvians can elect their president and voting is compulsory.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Today is very important. Every vote counts,\" Fujimori said.\n<\/p>\n
\n She has promised to militarize prisons, expel migrants and tackle crime with the \"same force\" used by her father against insurgents in the 1990s.\n<\/p>\n
\n On the eve of the election, a judge said Sanchez must stand trial over past financial irregularities in his party, raising claims of interference.\n<\/p>\n
\n If he wins, he would have presidential immunity, though remain vulnerable to the country's right-leaning legislature -- which has ousted several recent presidents.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"I hope the entire process is carried out transparently, that the people's vote is respected,\" early voter Evelyn Pazos, 43, told AFP.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sanchez has the backing of former president Pedro Castillo, a schoolteacher jailed after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress in 2022.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sanchez is rarely seen in public without a broad-brimmed palm straw hat gifted to him by his mentor, whom he plans to pardon.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Communism' or 'dictatorship' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Neither Sanchez nor Fujimori has a legislative majority. Whoever wins must build alliances to complete their term, according to analyst Jeffrey Radzinsky.\n<\/p>\n
\n The winner will replace interim president Jose Maria Balcazar from July 28.\n<\/p>\n
\n Despite political disillusionment, Peruvians' main concern is security, as criminal gangs spread and extortion complaints spiked ninefold in five years.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"They kill, dismember, demand protection money. Enough!\" said 58-year-old taxi driver Roberto Lovaton.\n<\/p>\n
\n The winner will inherit a stable economy, with GDP growth of over three percent and low inflation.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, seven out of 10 workers are in the informal economy.\n<\/p>\n
\n Fujimori supports neoliberal policies, property rights and attracting US investment.\n<\/p>\n
\n Sanchez has promised wage increases and sought to reassure investors by pledging to maintain an open economy and central bank independence, key to economic stability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Voting stations closed Sunday in Peru's presidential election, with exit polls showing four-time candidate Keiko Fujimori with the slenderest of leads over her leftist rival. Pollsters at Ipsos and other firms said Fujimori led Roberto Sanchez by about one percentage point -- 50.7 percent versus 49.3 percent -- a statistical tie. Crime and anger over […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-160140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n