Peru vote neck-and-neck after Fujimori lead slips

Peru's presidential vote headed for a photo finish Sunday in a race between the daughter of an ex-president jailed for massacres and a former Wall Street banker.

Conservative Keiko Fujimori, 41, and her center-right rival Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, 77, were virtually tied in exit polls as voting closed at 2100 GMT.

The runoff election has forced voters to confront the South American nation's dark past. A 1980-2000 civil conflict involving leftist insurgents killed an estimated 70,000 people.

Many mistrust Keiko Fujimori because her father Alberto is in jail for corruption and the slaughter of alleged terrorists in the 1990s.
"We want no more dictatorships. There was a lot of repression and a lot of people died and disappeared," said Enrique Castillo, a 61-year-old queueing to vote in Lima.

Others hope Keiko Fujimori will be tough like her father in fighting a wave of violent crime in Peru, a major cocaine-producing country.

"Her father did good things too against crime," said administrative worker Silvia Cuadros, 45, waiting in line to vote for Fujimori.

"Our parents may make mistakes, but that does not mean their children will do the same."

Cheering supporters of the candidates gathered in separate rallies in Lima to watch the results come in on Sunday evening.

- Unite Peru -

Fujimori and Kuczynski earlier spoke to television crews at their traditional election-morning breakfasts with their families.
"Go out and vote, do it early and let us do it united, thinking of our country," Fujimori said.

"Today is a day of celebration and the winner should be Peru."

Kuczynski called for a "government of unity."

"Vote happily and think of democracy and dialogue. That is the only thing that will save us from corruption, drug-trafficking and turbulence."

Both candidates are right-leaning, US-educated politicians.

Kuczynski, son of a Jewish doctor from Germany, also studied in Britain in the 1950s.
They have both vowed to fight crime and create jobs in the nation of 31 million people.

Fujimori is the granddaughter of Japanese immigrants. A mother of two, married to an American, she is seen as more populist and socially conservative, and would be Peru's first woman president.

"She is the only one who has signed a commitment to oppose gay marriages. And with her there will be less crime," Cuadros told AFP.

Former economy minister Kuczynski has a long career in business and finance.

"He has a lot of experience. Keiko has never worked," said Castillo, who runs a business exporting clothes.

"We want security and stability so that foreign investment will come."

- Tied in polls -

The campaigns have been stained by allegations of corruption and irregularities.
Those may have turned the tide in the polls against Fujimori in favor of Kuczynski, pollsters said.

Kuczynski has less support among poorer voters but "anti-fujimoristas" are flocking to him, said Luis Benavente, director of consultancy Vox Populi.

Both runoff candidates are seen as pro-market in their plans to further Peru's economic growth.

The country is a big exporter of copper, gold and other minerals.

Its strong growth has declined under outgoing President Ollanta Humala.

Exit polls by Ipsos and Gfk gave a slight lead to Kuczynski.

A poll by CPI put Fujimori slightly ahead.

In the Ipsos survey, Kuczynski had 50.4 percent of the vote to 49.6 percent for Fujimori.

GfK gave 51.2 percent to Kuczynski and 48.8 percent to Fujimori.

CPI had Fujimori in the lead on 51.1 percent with 48.9 for Kuczynski.

Whichever candidate eventually clinches a lead, however small, will win the vote.

In a close first round on April 10, Fujimori's side won a majority in the congress.

First official results of the runoff were expected around 0200 GMT on Monday.

Source: AFP