LIMA, Peru — Throughout Peru’s decade-long political crisis, citizens have at least been able to trust electoral authorities to accurately and fairly tally their votes. That may be about to change after right-wing conspiracy theorists seized upon logistical problems that marred the first round of the presidential election on April 12 as a pretext to irregularly force out Piero Corvetto, the head of Peru’s electoral commission, the ONPE. Corvetto’s ouster came as the last votes were still being counted to determine who will face off against Keiko Fujimori—perennial right-wing presidential candidate and daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori—in the June 7 runoff.
The charge against Corvetto, whose house prosecutors raided last week, has been led by Rafael López Aliaga, a businessman and former Lima mayor often described as “the Peruvian Trump” who is himself a candidate in the election. However, López Aliaga appears set to narrowly lose out on the second berth in the upcoming runoff to leftist Roberto Sánchez, an ally of jailed former President Pedro Castillo.
At the time of writing, with 96 percent of votes counted, Sánchez had just under 2 million votes and a lead of around 23,000 over López Aliaga. Even before the first round, however, López Aliaga was repeatedly warning of anticipated “fraud” in the election without offering any evidence. Since the vote, his unsubstantiated attacks on both the ONPE and the JNE, the tribunal that adjudicates electoral disputes,...
*This content was translated by AI. Professional basketball team Busan KCC has filed a criminal complaint against two officials from Daegu Korea Gas Corporation on charges of defamation. On the 24t...