Right-wing calls for international expertise after election in Peru

The first round was held on April 12 and 13, but the final results have not yet been announced due to problems that resulted in the resignation and arrest of members of the country’s electoral body, the recount of electoral records and an order from the electoral court to audit the digital systems used in the election.

In an interview with CNN in Spanish over the weekend, López Aliaga said that this audit is not enough and that international expertise is needed.

“We are already dealing with a criminal case, a forensic examination carried out by companies like KPMG, BDO, PricewaterhouseCoopers or EY, one of those big firms (it has to be done). They hire a small company to audit. Two people to audit, who receive 750 thousand soles (about R$1 million). It’s ridiculous how they are conducting this”, said López Aliaga in the interview.

“It’s not a matter of chance; there is fraud, there is crime. It gives all these people more than 20 years in prison,” he added.

López Aliaga specifically expressed questions about the polling stations identified as series 900,000. “Statistically, it is impossible that on one night in a series, 900,000, you have 250,000 votes and that they are all counted between the night and dawn (after the election). This does not withstand the slightest scrutiny”, he accused.

Throughout the investigation, the right-wing candidate claimed that fraud had occurred to remove him from the second round and even offered a reward to anyone who offered evidence of irregularities in the electoral process.

The Peruvian National Electoral Jury (JNE) denied in April a request from López Aliaga to hold complementary elections so that people who would have stopped voting due to problems in the election could go to the polls.

With 99.6% of the votes counted, the conservative Keiko Fujimori has 17.2% of the votes and the leftist Roberto Sánchez has 12%, against 11.9% for López Aliaga – the difference between second and third place is just 14 thousand votes at the moment.