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Keiko Fujimori wins first-round of Peru’s presidential elections

Monday, 11 April 2016 4:34 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 11 April 2016 4:39 AM ]

Peru´s presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori waves at supporters after a press conference in Lima on April 10, 2016. (AFP photo)

Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peru’s imprisoned former president, has won the first round of presidential elections, according to exit polls.

With one fifth of the votes counted, the 40-year-old daughter of Alberto Fujimori won 38 percent of votes, according to state electoral body ONPE chief Mariano Cucho.

Fujimori’s rival, centrist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, stayed in second place with 24 percent of the votes while leftist candidate Veronika Mendoza had 16 percent.

Falling short of a simple majority, Fujimori has to face Kuczynski in a runoff on June 5.

“We invite all Peruvians on June 5 to opt for change and for the future, because the future of Peru is on the way,” Fujimori told her supporters.

Several demonstrations were held against her campaign across Peru. Opponents say a vote for Fujimori would be a vote for her father. Human rights groups also warned that as president, she would revive her father's authoritarian rule.

Alberto Fujimori is now serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption committed during his 1990-2000 rule.

The former president, however, is praised by some Peruvians for largely defeating Peru’s Maoist Shining Path rebel group during 1990s.

The group killed about 69,000 people in a decade-long conflict. But the group still controls hundreds of areas in a coca-growing region of the country and has joined forces with drug gangs.

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