LIMA, Peru — More than a week after Peruvians cast ballots in one of the nation’s most contentious presidential elections in recent memory, the top leader of the country’s national election agency has stepped down, taking responsibility for widespread logistical failures that have thrown the vote count into chaos and deepened public uncertainty over the outcome.
Piero Corvetto, who led Peru’s national election institution, announced his resignation in an official letter delivered to Peruvian government authorities on Tuesday. While Corvetto explicitly denied any personal wrongdoing tied to the election mismanagement, he argued his departure was a necessary step to shore up public trust ahead of the June 7 presidential runoff, which is already scheduled to take place after no candidate secured an absolute majority in the first round.
The April 12 first-round vote brought more than 30 presidential candidates into the race, alongside hundreds of contenders vying for seats in Peru’s national congress. But the process quickly unraveled when election officials failed to deliver critical voting materials to more than 12 polling centers across the capital city of Lima. The logistical breakdown blocked more than 52,000 eligible voters from casting their ballots on the originally scheduled election day, forcing authorities to extend voting for an extra 24 hours.
As of this week, official vote counting remains ongoing, with election workers still processing tally sheets arriving from remote Andean regions and Peruvian consulates operating across the globe. Peruvian electoral law requires a runoff between the two top-finishing candidates if no contender wins more than 50% of valid votes, a threshold that no candidate came close to meeting in this crowded field.
With 93.8% of all ballots now counted, preliminary results place conservative leader Keiko Fujimori firmly in the lead with 17.04% of the vote, a standing that all but guarantees her a spot on the June runoff ballot. In second place, holding 12.01% of counted votes, is nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez, a former minister under imprisoned ex-President Pedro Castillo who has campaigned on a pledge to partially nationalize Peru’s vast natural resource sector. Sánchez holds only a razor-thin lead over ultraconservative former Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga, who has captured 11.91% of the vote so far.
López Aliaga has already pushed back against the partial preliminary results, leveling unsubstantiated claims of a “gigantic fraud” orchestrated by election officials. He has publicly called for a “complementary election” that would allow hundreds of thousands of Peruvians who were unable to vote on April 12 to cast their ballots after the fact.
These fraud allegations have been rejected by independent international observers. An electoral observation mission deployed by the European Union noted last week that while the first round faced significant logistical disruptions, it found no credible evidence of systemic fraud in the vote counting process.
On Monday, Peru’s top electoral tribunal set a firm May 15 deadline for officials to complete the full vote count and officially confirm which two candidates will advance to the June runoff. The winner of this election will make history as Peru’s ninth president in just 10 years, taking office amid a prolonged period of political instability that has already seen multiple interim leaders rise and fall. The current interim president, José María Balcázar, was appointed to the role in February, replacing another interim head of state who was removed from office over corruption allegations just four months after taking power.