RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The far-left candidate Pedro Castillo has increased his lead to more than 10 points over the authoritarian right-wing Keiko Fujimori, his rival in the second round of the presidential elections to be held next June 6 in Peru, according to the latest poll released this Sunday.
According to the poll conducted by the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP) and published by the newspaper La República, the candidate for Peru Libre managed to increase the distance between himself and Fujimori by obtaining 44.8% of the votes, 10 points more than the leader of Fuerza Popular, who reached 34.4% of preferences.
With only two weeks to go before the runoff, the poll showed that 12.8% of Peruvians would vote blank or null and void, and 5.1% have not yet decided on either of the two options.
FUJIMORI ONLY WINS IN LIMA
According to the IEP poll, the rural school teacher continues to dominate the voting intention in the north, south, center, and east of the country, a scenario that is reversed in Metropolitan Lima, where Fujimori reaches a preference of 45.8%, almost 12 points more than Castillo, who receives 33.9%.
In the northern part of Peru, the candidate for Peru Libre increased more than 10 percentage points with respect to the previous study of the same pollster and obtained 47.2% of support. In contrast, the pro-Fujimori candidate obtained 29.2%.
The union leader wins with 62.5 % of the votes in the south, tripling the 20.3 % of support received by the right-wing candidate.
However, the distance between the two candidates is smaller in the center and east of the country, where Castillo wins with 48.6% and 39.5% of the votes over Fujimori, who has 33.7% and 35.5% of support, respectively.
CASTILLO SUPPORTED BY THE MOST VULNERABLE
Likewise, the poll ratifies that the Popular Force leader is the favorite in socioeconomic levels A and B, the most affluent in the country. She receives a resounding 52.1%, and Castillo reaches 32.7%.
On the other hand, in sectors C and D/E, the population with less economic resources, the candidate of Peru Libre win with 43.9% and 50.8%, respectively.
According to the poll, 47% of Castillo’s voters support him because “he offers a change”, 29% because “he does not want Fujimorism to return to power,” and 14% because they consider that “he will worry about those who have the least”.
Regarding Fujimori, 55% of those who plan to vote for her say that they will do so because they “do not want the left/communism to come to power”, 18% because they consider that the right-wing candidate offers “stability and order”, 13% because they “trust her” and 11% because they think she “offers change”.
ANTIVOTO TO FUJIMORI INCREASES
The IEP study also reveals that voter dislike for the daughter and political heir of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) has increased to half of the population eligible to vote.
The greatest rejection of the Fujimori candidate is concentrated in rural areas, where 65% of the population would definitely not vote for her.
In the case of Castillo, the level of rejection reaches more than a third of the electorate (37 %), while 7 % indicate that they would not elect either of the two candidates.
The IEP poll was carried out between May 20 and 21 to 1,208 people, has a margin of error of 2.8% and a confidence level of 94.5%.