Nearly a month after Peruvians went to the polls, the country is still awaiting the final results, as legal challenges have caused significant delays in the vote count. López Aliaga, the former mayor of Lima, has repeatedly alleged electoral fraud and called for the election to be annulled. However, he has not presented any evidence to support his claims. “A coup d’état is taking place in Peru — a coup d’état against democracy,” he told reporters on Friday. With nearly 99 percent of ballots counted, no candidate secured an outright majority, meaning the election will head to a runoff between the top two candidates on June 7.

Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori — daughter of polarizing former president Alberto Fujimori — led the first round with 17.1 percent of the vote. López Aliaga is locked in a tight race for second place with leftist former minister Roberto Sánchez, who currently holds a lead of around 20,000 votes. López Aliaga claimed electoral authorities were preparing to announce a second-round lineup consisting of “two people who are not legitimate.” “We will not recognize the results if this situation remains,” he warned. In April, a record 35 candidates ran for president of the chronically unstable Andean nation, which has had eight presidents in the past decade, four of whom were impeached.  (Bssnews)