Peru Runoff Locked: Fujimori vs Sánchez June 7 as Crisis Deepens
— Peru’s electoral office reported 97.806 percent of acts processed by Monday afternoon, with Keiko Fujimori at 17.131 percent and Roberto Sánchez holding second at 12.045 percent against Rafael López Aliaga’s 11.880 percent — a Sánchez lead of roughly twenty-six thousand votes that locks the June 7 runoff.
— A Lima judge granted prosecutors an eighteen-month travel ban against former election chief Piero Corvetto on April 30 over alleged collusion in the Galaga ballot-distribution contract, while interim chief Bernardo Pachas Serrano runs the agency through second-round vote on June 7.
— Three cabinet ministers were due before the Congress Defense Committee Monday afternoon to explain the F-16 Block 70 fighter-jet crisis after President José María Balcázar tried to suspend the three-and-a-half-billion-dollar Lockheed Martin deal — two ministers had already resigned in protest before the first payment cleared.
Three weeks after a chaotic first-round vote, the Peru runoff Fujimori Sánchez contest on June 7 is now locked. The former election chief is under criminal investigation, and the cabinet has been hauled before Congress over a botched fighter-jet purchase that already cost two ministers their jobs.
The Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales reported 97.806 percent of acts processed Monday at 14:15 Lima time, with Keiko Fujimori of Fuerza Popular leading at 17.131 percent of valid votes, Roberto Sánchez of Juntos por el Perú in second at 12.045 percent, and former Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga of Renovación Popular in third at 11.880 percent. Sánchez’s lead over López Aliaga widened to roughly twenty-six thousand five hundred votes, a margin that all major Peruvian outlets agreed is mathematically locked given the small share of acts still pending.
The Rio Times, the Latin American financial news outlet, reports that the Peru runoff Fujimori Sánchez contest on June 7 will replay the left-versus-right polarization of the 2021 election, when Pedro Castillo defeated Keiko Fujimori by roughly forty-four thousand votes. Sánchez served as a minister under Castillo. The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones expects to publish official final results around mid-May once contested acts have been resolved at the regional Jurados Electorales Especiales.
Where the Peru Runoff Fujimori Sánchez Battle Begins
Both campaigns started this weekend in regions where they polled weakest in the first round. Fujimori traveled to Ayacucho, where Sánchez took roughly thirty-one percent of the vote and she finished fourth at around eight percent. Sánchez, in turn, opened operations in Lima, the capital region where his ninth-place finish at three percent represents the steepest hill to climb in the runoff.
Sánchez also moved this weekend to distance Juntos por el Perú from Antauro Humala, the radical nationalist who had called for Peru to reclaim Tarapacá and Arica from Chile by diplomatic or armed means. In a public statement Sánchez disavowed that position and said his government would prioritize friendly relations with the administration of Chilean president José Antonio Kast and with all neighboring countries.
Election Chief Under Criminal Probe
Judge Manuel Chuyo Zavaleta of Lima granted prosecutors an eighteen-month travel ban against Piero Corvetto on April 30 in the criminal investigation into the Galaga SAC ballot-distribution contract, the agreement at the center of the April 12 logistical failure that left roughly sixty-three thousand voters unable to cast ballots. The judge rejected the prosecution’s parallel request for preliminary detention, ruling that prosecutors had not adequately demonstrated risk of flight or obstruction.
Corvetto resigned the ONPE jefatura on April 21, which the Junta Nacional de Justicia formalized through Resolución 119-2026. Investigators searching his residence reported finding three passports, including one Corvetto said had expired. The investigation is for aggravated collusion and dereliction of duties.
Bernardo Pachas Serrano, the agency’s general manager, took over as interim chief on April 22 under Article 15 of the ONPE organic law, which provides for automatic succession during an electoral process. Pachas himself faces scrutiny: an oficio from the Jurado Nacional de Elecciones at 08:25 on April 12 had warned him that polling materials had not arrived at multiple Lima sites, and the Junta Nacional de Justicia has scheduled a public competition to name Corvetto’s permanent replacement only after the second round, with the new chief expected to be sworn in around July 3.
F-16 Cabinet Crisis Hits Congress Floor
Three members of the cabinet were scheduled to appear Monday at 15:00 Lima time before the Congress Defense Committee chaired by Karol Paredes. The session aimed to explain the status of the suspended Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 fighter-jet deal valued at roughly three and a half billion U.S. dollars. The same ministers had skipped a prior session on April 27 that Paredes called disrespectful to Congress.
The three witnesses are prime minister Luis Arroyo, defense minister Amadeo Flores Carcagno, and foreign minister Carlos Pareja Ríos.
The crisis erupted on April 17 when interim president José María Balcázar told national television that he intended to suspend the deal and leave the decision to Peru’s next government. Defense minister Carlos Díaz Dañino and foreign minister Hugo de Zela resigned on April 22, revealing in interviews with RPP that the F-16 contracts had already been signed at the Las Palmas air base on April 20 — a timeline Balcázar had not disclosed publicly.
The first two-billion-dollar payment cleared anyway, drawing public satisfaction from U.S. ambassador Bernie Navarro. The Defense Committee will also press Flores on the Huancavelica incident in Colcabamba, Tayacaja province, where five young Peruvians were killed by Armed Forces troops; interior minister José Zapata is implicated in the same case.
What This Means for Investors
The Peru runoff Fujimori Sánchez matchup reactivates the same left-versus-right polarization that produced the Castillo presidency in 2021 and the institutional collapse that followed. Peru produces roughly 11.8 percent of global copper, and a Sánchez victory would mark the first center-left administration since Castillo’s removal in late 2022. Sánchez has signaled he wants the next finance minister to revisit the autonomy and leadership of the Banco Central de Reserva under longtime governor Julio Velarde, a position institutional investors will read as elevating policy risk.
Asociación Civil Transparencia urged the JNE and ONPE on April 22 to respect the electoral calendar and publish the final count quickly, warning that any deviation from the scheduled timetable would damage the legitimacy of the process. With the count effectively locked, the F-16 hearing in Congress and the Corvetto investigation are now the proximate institutional pressures shaping the sixty-day runoff campaign.
For broader context on the first-round result, see our prior coverage of the Sánchez-Keiko second-round confirmation, our analysis of the López Aliaga fraud claims and market reaction, and our complete Peru Elections 2026 guide.
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