Why are the results of the Peruvian presidential elections taking so long?

The National Elections Jury (JNE), the highest electoral authority in the country, estimates that Final results will not be known before May 15.

Peruvians still do not know who will contest the June 7 runoff against the right-wing Keiko Fujimori, the only one with a guaranteed ticket.

The radical leftist Roberto Sanchez and the ultraconservative Rafael López Aliaga fights vote by vote for second placer, with a slight advantage of 14,000 votes for Sánchez with close to 94% of the count.

A large number of the remaining minutes contain irregularities and must be examined by the electoral juries. These are almost a million votes distributed in 5,143 minutes observed, according to the electoral authority.

Objected records are processed on a case-by-case basis. “It generally takes around three days” to review each record, Yessica Clavijo, Secretary General of the JNE, told AFP.

This period may be extended, however, in the event of disputes. The task is complicated because voters cast their votes simultaneously in five elections (presidential, legislative and other bodies), which multiplies the number of tally sheets that must be processed.

In a very close race for second place, where only a small percentage of votes separates the candidates, parties often file numerous challenges, sometimes to delaying the final count in the hope of reversing the result.

“The objective of massive challenges, even in areas where the candidate who is demanding is relegated, is to subtract votes from the opponent and lengthen the entire process,” political scientist Fernando Tuesta told AFP.

The minutes can be challenged for various types of errors, such as inconsistencies in the figures or missing or illegible data, something common in a record vote with 35 candidates and five simultaneous elections.

When these anomalies cannot be corrected, the law provides for a recount of votes instead of the annulment of the minutes, as was sometimes the case previously.

Several irregularities have been reported. Delays in the delivery of ballot boxes and ballots prevented some 50,000 citizens from voting on election day, forcing authorities to extend voting by one day at some polling stations.

On Thursday, on the other hand, they found four boxes with approximately 1,200 ballots in a garbage container in Lima.

Prosecutor’s office inspections have begun at the facilities of the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE), responsible for the voting process, while the JNE filed a complaint against its head, Piero Corvetto, and other officials for violation of the right to vote.

Rafael López Aliaga, who was second behind Keiko Fujimori at the beginning of the count, denounced “electoral fraud” without providing evidence.

He called for demonstrations that brought together more than 3,000 people on Sunday in Lima, and has offered rewards of about $5,800 to anyone who provides information about irregularities.

The electoral observation mission of the European Union (EU) referred to “serious failures”, but specified that it did not find “any objective evidence” of fraud.

López Aliaga has asked to annul the elections or hold a complementary election in Lima. Both options seem unlikely.

“The electoral law only allows annulment when the invalid, defective or blank votes exceed two-thirds of the valid votes at the national level,” criminal lawyer Roberto Pereira told AFP.

Nor does it foresee complementary elections, he said.

The tensions fuel a climate of deep distrust towards institutions in a country marked by chronic political instability, with eight presidents in ten years.

“They have found votes in the trash… it’s funny, it seems like a joke. What will they say in other countries? What a shame,” said Miguel Espino, a 71-year-old taxi driver from Lima.