Photos: Two marches in Peru represent political polarization

Thousands of supporters Both on the left Point Pedro Castillo Like his rival Keiko Fujimori They marched in Peru this Saturday to defend or oppose the Fursa leader’s efforts to challenge and annul thousands of votes in the presidential election.

In different parts of the country, but especially in Lima, citizens on both sides carried practically the same symbols – the flags and colors of Peru were everywhere – and chanted very similar slogans. In defending the homeland, suffrage and democracy, but with radical opposing views of its meaning.

On the one hand, the Sunday, June 6 Respectfully yours, Fujimori sought to overturn the results by legal maneuvers and, basically, they warned and blocked the right actions and calls to refrain from declaring the rural teacher as President of Peru, i.e. in violation of the Constitution.

On the other hand, under the definite slogan of “respect my votes”, it was demanded to protect the country from “communism” and to fight the “truth” about elections and “electoral fraud”.

In view of the tension of the day, the Interior Ministry stopped 3,000 police officers to avoid incidents between protesters on both sides, although there was no dispute that the two marches in Lima coincided in the city’s historic center.

As Fujimori did last week, he starred in a rally in the capital, this time with his party’s senior staff and close associates of his campaign to establish the idea of ​​electoral fraud, such as the right of a former presidential candidate. Wing Lourdes Flores has emerged as one of its key spokespersons. Both Fujimori and Flores are involved in the investigation of the Lava Jato project.

There is no credible evidence that any fraud took place in the Peruvian election, Explained the groups of international observers who went through the whole process, including those sent by the US States Organization (OAS).

The country’s most recognized IPSOS voting company was released on the same Saturday Statistical analysis of “no evidence available” results of fraud.

After the official count, Castillo leads Fujimori by more than 40,000 votesAlthough the National Electoral Arbitration Council (JNE) has not yet reviewed Fujimori’s challenge to cancel 200,000 votes in areas that largely support Castillo, they say there are irregularities.

All of these claims have already been rejected by Special Electoral Jurisdictions (JEEs), most of which were due to formal deficiencies (due to non-payment or submission after the deadline), but no evidence at all.

Tight results are not new in Peru. Pedro Gussinki, who won the 2016 presidential election, also defeated Keiko Fujimori by a margin of 41,000 votes. At the time, the right-wing reluctantly accepted Kuczynski’s victory five days after the election. If Fujimori loses this time, it will be his third defeat since losing in 2011 and 2016. The candidate faces a charge of fraud that carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, although the case will be dropped if he becomes president..

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In front of thousands of supporters, However, Fujimori reiterated his fraud thesis He has been defending since election night and it was clear that he was going to lose votes, even to those who came out of the legal deadline, and the JNE was asked to agree to reconsider all his claims.

“We are with a firm voice that our votes should be respected,” the candidate said. He is not going to accept that “our votes should be stolen”. “We seek to know the truth, which is why minutes should be analyzed and they should not excuse us,” Keiko Fujimori stressed.

Floris, Fujimori’s legal adviser, went a step further and said that Fujimori had won the vote and that it would have been taken away from them. Take the opportunity Call a thief directly Piero Corvette, head of the National Electoral Process Organization (ONPE).

The march in support of Castillo, who did not take part in the rally, rallied thousands of supporters in Lima. It was left in the hands of various civil and political organizations, including Ronderos groups (peasant defensive fighters) and peasants who came to Lima to support the left-wing candidate.

Everyone agreed on outlining what the call for protest was, that is A growing campaign to “hand over the results of the electoral process” to “ignore the so-called results of fraud”.

The complaints are “beyond the current timeline and procedures” and “have no basis”, while the demand for the removal of the rural vote is aimed at “denying the right to political participation of thousands of citizens.” .

“We look forward to the various demands in favor of Keiko Fujimori before the regular judge to disable and reverse the results of electoral justice. We urge Fursa Popular Candidate to stop judicial proceedings that delay the electoral process without support,” they lamented.

Overall The two demonstrations rallied about 27,000 people, According to estimates by the Ministry of the Interior. Although participants wore masks, they congregated without any precaution in a country severely affected by the epidemic.

“We already have a winner,” Castillo said AFP Maruja Inquira, who came to Lima to protest from Kota on Lake Titicaca, where most of the Aymara people live, wore colorful festive attire. Castillo won by nine out of 10 votes in that remote Andean region bordering Bolivia.

Said Ricardo Gutierrez, who was listening to Fujimori Andhra “Communism cannot enter our country, it is the worst thing in the world, the cancer of humanity and the communists are thieves.”

There were also processions of Castillo supporters in the Andean cities of Arequipa, Ayacucho and Huanzo.

(With photos from AFP, EFE, AP, Reuters)

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