Pedro Castillo School teacher has been declared Peru’s president-elect, six weeks after elections during which the results were delayed by claims of electoral fraud from his right-wing rival, Keiko Fujimori.
This was announced by Jorge Luis Salas, head of the JNE elections jury, in a brief virtual ceremony on Monday night, July 19.
Castillo, 51 is the head of the Teacher’s trade unionist. He becomes the first non-rich president of Peru.
“On behalf of my family I would like to salute the electoral authorities… and also to salute the political parties that have taken part in this democratic celebration,” Castillo told supporters gathered at the headquarters of his Peru Libre (Free Peru) party in Lima.
“Dear compatriots, I bring here an open heart for each and every one of you,” he declared from the balcony after.
His victory leaves rival Fujimori facing an imminent corruption trial.
The JNE validated the vote count by the ONPE elections body, which had given Castillo 50.12 per cent of the ballots cast, some 44,000 more than Fujimori — most of whose objections the jury dismissed.
Pedro Castillo Terrones, born on 19 October 1969 has been a Peruvian schoolteacher, union leader, politician, before he runs for office, he has already attained prominence as a leading figure in Peru after he played a lead role in the 2017 teacher strike and ran in the election as the candidate of the left-wing Free Peru party.
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