Peru braces for 'most fragmented election in history' as pandemic grips
APRIL 9, 202111:08 AMUPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
By Marco Aquino
4 MIN READ
LIMA (Reuters) - Peru will vote for a new president on Sunday in a wide-open election framed by a deadly surge in coronavirus cases, and under the long shadow of a constitutional crisis last year that saw the Andean nation go through three leaders in a week.
As candidates closed their campaigns, pollsters say half a dozen of them are still in the running for a top two spot, which would see them move into a second round run-off vote in June. Predicting which two will make it, they say, is impossible.
“These are the most fragmented elections in history, we have never reached the eve of the election with so many candidates in with a chance,” Alfredo Torres, head of local pollster Ipsos Peru told reporters on Thursday.
The uncertainty over the elections comes as Peru battles the peak of COVID-19 cases with hospitals overwhelmed and after the world’s no. 2 copper producer suffered its worst economic drop in three decades last year. The twists and turns have buffeted markets and Peru’s sol currency.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-election/peru-braces-for-most-fragmented-election-in-history-as-pandemic-grips-idUSKBN2BW27K
