President-elect Kuczynski brings ambitious plan to Peru's government palace.
| Autor | Jana, Elsa Chanduvi |
| Cargo | Pedro Pablo Kuczynski |
Following five days of tense waiting, the Peruvian government announced the results of the presidential runoff election on June 9: Peruanos por el Kambio (PPK) leader Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had defeated Fuerza Popular (FP) candidate Keiko Fujimori by more than 41,000 votes. Up until a week before the election, Fujimori--daughter of a former dictator serving a 25-year term in prison for corruption and crimes against humanity--had been favored to win (NotiSur, March 25, 2016, and April 22, 2016).
With 100% of the actas counted (equivalent to 99.77% of those turned in), the national elections office, Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE) indicated that Kuczynski had 50.12% of the valid votes, while Fujimori obtained 49.88. loss Actas are the documents that each of Peru's 78,000 voting centers hand over to the electoral authorities indicating the number of votes for each candidate and the number of null and blank votes. About 300 voters cast their ballots in each voting center. The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (National Board of Elections, JNE) said results would be official on June 28, when it would deliver to Kuczynski the credentials as president of the republic for the 2016-2021 term.
"We are grateful for a democratic election. We accept these results with much modesty," Kuczynski said when the ONPE results were announced. "Peru is a big country in heart and soul. I am going to dedicate myself to work for all of you so that in 2021, the bicentennial year, Peru will be a different country--a renewed country... Peru faces major challenges, and we want a united, reconciled country, ready for dialogue."
The president-elect immediately began to receive congratulations from foreign heads of state and national political leaders. Nevertheless, Fujimori's first reaction was to refrain from recognizing the results, though she finally did so reluctantly, saying they were confusing without explaining what she meant.
"Upon learning the results and even with some still uncounted votes in the Jurado, we democratically accept these ONPE results, because we are a serious political organization, and out of respect for the Peruvian people," Fujimori said at a June 10 press conference. The 173 actas still to be reviewed by the special electoral commissions at the time were equal to 0.22% of the votes, which is to say that even if Fujimori had won all of them, the final election tally would still give Kuczynski the victory.
"The country has witnessed a campaign that promoted confrontation between Peruvians, that sought to and succeeded in awakening...
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