Ex-banker takes narrow lead in presidential election

Both candidates are fiscal conservatives who would maintain a free-market model

Former Wall Street investor Pedro Pablo Kuczynski appeared to win Peru's presidential election as partial results showed him with a narrow but steady lead over Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of an imprisoned former leader.

With nearly 90 percent of all votes counted on Monday, Kuczynski - known in Peru by his initials PPK - had 50.5 percent support while Fujimori trailed on 49.5 percent.

Fujimori had for long been the favorite to win the election, but support for her melted away in the final days of campaigning as Peruvians weighed the legacy of her father Alberto Fujimori and fresh scandals involving her close advisers.

"It's clear that PPK won," said Alfredo Torres, director of Ipsos in Peru. "The gap is no longer narrowing but widening."

Final results in what appeared to be Peru's closest election in at least three decades were expected later.

Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former prime minister, investor and World Bank economist, portrayed himself as an honest and experienced leader who would clean up corruption, ensure every town in Peru has piped water, and revive economic growth that has slowed on weaker prices for Peru's mineral exports.

His party mascot - dressed as a guinea pig - danced with volunteers and his campaign song cranked out the chorus "PPK is rising, rising!"

While both candidates are fiscal conservatives who would maintain a free-market model in the resource-rich Andean economy, their styles and approaches differ widely.

The campaign pitted the Fujimori family's brand of right-wing populism against Kuczynski's elite background and stiff technocratic style.

"Peru will be much better off with PPK. I'm very proud that Peru remembered what happened years ago. I have family members who had to leave the country because of Fujimori," said Alexandra Gamarra, a 25-year-old university student.

If he wins, Kuczynski will have to reckon with a solid majority of Fujimori's party in Congress and a left-wing party that has promised not to align with either of them.

Fujimori has spent years trying to broaden her appeal beyond loyalists to her father in her bid to become Peru's first female president.

(China Daily 06/07/2016 page12)