The initial count in Peru's presidential runoff has been completed, but the focus now turns to a detailed and potentially lengthy review of contested polling-station results overseen by the National Electoral Jury (JNE). The separation between the candidates after the first tally is razor-thin - just over 1,000 votes out of approximately 18 million ballots cast - and more than 1,600 polling stations, representing about 400,000 votes, have been flagged for examination and have not yet been incorporated into the official total.
How much difference can the contested ballots make?
The contested ballots can be decisive. The initial tabulation showed conservative Keiko Fujimori with 9,036,046 votes, or 50.004% of the total, and leftist Roberto Sanchez with 9,034,743 votes, or 49.996%. A substantial share of the polling stations sent for review are in the Lima region, where Fujimori led strongly in the preliminary count. Because of the geographic concentration of flagged ballots and the voting patterns there, analysts expect the review process to be more favorable to Fujimori, although the formal outcome depends on the individual station decisions.
What triggers a polling station to be reviewed?
At the close of voting each polling station completes a tally sheet recording the final vote counts for each candidate. Any discrepancy between the numbers or anomalies on that sheet can lead to the station being sent for review. In addition, both campaigns had accredited election observers at polling stations nationwide and abroad; these observers hold the right to challenge the presented final tally, which also sends the station's results into the review pipeline.
What happens once a vote is flagged?
When a station's tally is contested, a Special Electoral Jury (JEE) composed of three members examines the submitted tally sheet. If the matter appears to be a straightforward accounting error or an issue that can be resolved quickly, the ballots from that station are incorporated into the final count. If the discrepancy cannot be resolved on the paperwork alone, the physical ballots are requested and a public hearing is scheduled within two days.
Those hearings are open and are streamed live on YouTube. Each hearing includes the JEE panel and election observers from the competing campaigns. The JEE has up to three calendar days to examine the ballots and reach a determination; once completed, the votes determined in that process are forwarded to be included in the official count.
How long might the process take?
The full review can extend over several weeks. The JNE has stated it will name an official winner on July 15. That timeline could shorten if one candidate begins to secure a clearer lead as contested ballots are resolved, allowing the winner to become apparent even before the formal declaration.
Are contested ballots the same as annulment requests?
They are not the same. In addition to the roughly 1,600 polling stations flagged for individual review, Sanchez's campaign has submitted a request seeking annulment of votes from about 2,400 polling stations. Sanchez's team alleges irregularities in 1,750 polling stations within Peru - mostly concentrated in Lima - and raised concerns about how ballots from approximately 650 polling stations in the United States were transported. The JNE has a three-day window to rule on that annulment request. Separately, Peru's minister of foreign affairs said on Thursday that the country had detected no issues with the handling of foreign ballots.
The coming days will feature close scrutiny of JEE hearings and any rulings by the JNE on annulment petitions. With tens of thousands of votes from hundreds of stations still pending, the final phase of the election will involve meticulous checks at the station level and formal determinations that together will decide who will lead the country.