The Albany Gazette - Peru presidential hopeful says electoral 'coup' underway

Nearly a month after they went to the polls, Peruvians are still waiting to know the final results, with legal challenges causing long delays to the count.

Lopez Aliaga, Lima's former mayor, has repeatedly claimed that the election was fraudulent and called for it to be annulled. But he has produced no evidence.

"A coup d'etat is taking place in Peru, a coup d'etat against democracy," he told reporters on Friday.

With nearly 99 percent of the ballots counted, no candidate has an outright majority, meaning the election will go to a run-off between the two top candidates on June 7.

Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of polarizing ex-president Alberto Fujimori, led the first round with 17.1 percent.

Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight race for second with leftist ex-minister Roberto Sanchez, who has a 20,000-vote lead over his rival.

Lopez Aliaga claimed that electoral authorities were preparing to unveil a second-round line-up consisting of "two people who are not legitimate."

"We will not recognize the results if this situation remains," he threatened.

In April, a record 35 candidates ran for president of the chronically unstable Andean nation, which has burned through eight presidents in the past decade, four of whom were impeached.

Lopez Aliaga, a Christian nationalist widely known as "Porky" over his self-professed resemblance to rotund cartoon character Porky Pig, campaigned as a hardliner on crime and migration.

The election was marked by delays in the delivery of election materials in Lima, which forced authorities to reopen some polling stations the following day.

The European Union's election observer mission nonetheless gave the election a clean bill of health.

(L.Thomas--TAG)