As of Tuesday morning, Leftist Roberto Sánchez maintains a slight lead over right-wing Keiko Fujimori in the vote count of the presidential elections in Peru, pending the counting of votes cast abroad, which could be key in determining the next head of state of the Andean country.

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Elections in Peru: Roberto Sanchez Ahead As Vote Count Advances

With 95.171% of the votes counted, Sánchez has a 0.23 percentage point lead over Fujimori, according to the report from the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE). The leftist candidate has received, so far, 50.117% of the votes and the right-wing candidate 49.883%. This means that Sánchez has 41,355 more votes than Fujimori, reaching 8,882,105 votes compared to his electoral rival’s 8,840,750.

The tight numbers confirm that the outcome of the elections in Peru will be decided vote by vote, as 2,967 tally sheets remain to be counted, the vast majority from abroad. The Peruvian Foreign Ministry reported that the arrival of the tally sheets from overseas, corresponding to 2,506 polling stations in 73 countries, will conclude next Wednesday.

In addition, it was reported that 1,513 tally sheets are pending submission to the Special Electoral Juries (JEE) due to some type of challenge or observation. These must be resolved in the first instance, after which many may be sent to the National Elections Board (JNE) for a final decision.

The text reads, “Electoral records from abroad arrive at the Decentralized Office of Electoral Processes (ODPE) Lima Centro 1, within the framework of the Second Presidential Election 2026.”

Amid this scenario, Sánchez declared himself confident and optimistic about the possibility of winning the election, but insisted that it is necessary to wait for the complete count.

The leader of the Together for Peru party, which is running on behalf of the imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, made a categorical appeal to all political actors to respect the outcome, whatever it may be, because Peru needs stability.

For her part, Fujimori echoed this call for calm and composure while awaiting the completion of the count, the results of which she assured she would respect, whatever they may be. The daughter of dictator Alberto Fujimori emphasized that the result reveals a deep division among Peruvians.

The virtual tie was anticipated on Sunday night by the polling firms’ projections. A sample compiled using official records by Ipsos gave Sánchez 50.3% and Fujimori 49.7%, while Datum Internacional indicated that Sánchez received 50.14% and Fujimori 49.86%.

More than 27.3 million citizens were called to the polls on Sunday to elect the next president of Peru for the 2026-2031 term.

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