LIMA (Reuters) -Far-left candidate Pedro Castillo will face conservative Keiko Fujimori in a June run-off of Peru\u2019s presidential election, according to a fast count by pollster Ipsos of more than two thirds of votes cast in Sunday\u2019s election.<\/p>\n
Castillo, a 51-year-old union leader and primary school teacher, secured 18.6% of the votes, while 14.5% went to Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori, the tally of 69.1% of the vote showed.<\/p>\n
The outcome would do little to calm market jitters over the future leadership of the world\u2019s second largest copper producer, however.<\/p>\n
Castillo has pledged to redraft the constitution of the Andean nation with a view to weakening the business elite and giving the state a more dominant role in sectors such as mining, oil, hydropower, gas and communications.<\/p>\n
Free marketeer Fujimori is a deeply divisive figure whose father was jailed for human rights abuses. She herself has spent time on remand over claims that she received $1.2 million from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which she denies.<\/p>\n
Hernando de Soto, the liberal economist whom an exit poll suggested was tied in second place with Fujimori, dropped to fourth position in the fast count, with 10.8% of the vote.<\/p>\n
An ultra-right candidate, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, rose to third place with 11.9% of the vote, according to the Ipsos tally.<\/p> Ipsos said it had counted 69.1% of the votes nationwide, with a one-point margin of error in its findings.<\/p>\n Castillo\u2019s lead was confirmed by the first official results released, giving him 15.8% of voteshare, but ranking Fujimori behind de Soto and Lopez Aliaga, with 12.19%, 14.48% and 13.13% respectively, after 11% of votes have been counted.<\/p>\n Celebrations, which started after Castillo\u2019s lead was first suggested in an exit poll, ran into the night in his home city of Cajamarca, in Peru\u2019s northern highlands.<\/p>\n \u201cI am grateful to the Peruvian people for this result,\u201d Castillo, who had worn a trademark cowboy hat when he arrived on horseback to vote, told supporters. \u201cI ask for calm until the final results.\u201d<\/p>\n The teacher put on a late surge in the polls, and according to the exit poll, won most votes in Peru\u2019s five poorest regions.<\/p>\n In addition to a pledge to tear up the 27-year-old constitution, a key demand of the young protesters who launched anti-government demonstrations last year, he has said he will keep his teacher\u2019s salary and cut those of lawmakers.<\/p> Peruvians also voted for representative to the 130-seat congress.<\/p>\n Exit poll results for that contest from Ipsos Peru suggested the body would stay fragmented, with 11 parties meeting the 5% threshold for representation but no party holding a clear majority, a potential hurdle for policymaking.<\/p>\n The Popular Action party of socially conservative presidential candidate Yonhy Lescano and Castillo\u2019s Free Peru party each obtained 10.7% of the votes, the Ipsos poll suggested.<\/p>\n They were followed by the Popular Force party of Fujimori with 9.5%, the Popular Renovation party of Lopez Aliaga with 8.8%, and the Country Forward party of de Soto with 8.4%.<\/p>\n Additionally, the Alliance for Progress party of businessman Cesar Acu\u00f1a got 7.9% and Mendoza\u2019s Together for Peru party 7.7%, according to the exit poll result.<\/p>\n Peru is battling a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, reporting a grim new daily record of 384 deaths on Saturday.<\/p>\n