Peruvians opposed to presidential frontrunner Keiko Fujimori will take to the streets in Lima once again on Thursday to protest a decision by electoral authorities to keep Fujimori in the race despite accusations of vote-buying.
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The latest round of marches slamming the candidate and the legacy of her father’s dictatorship come after the country’s Special Electoral Jury ruled early Thursday morning that requests to see Fujimori booted from the ballot will not be accepted.
Protest organizers reject the decision and its secretive announcement.
“Just like during the dictatorship, the ruling in favor of Fujimori supporters comes out in the early morning, on a holiday, and on the eve of the Peru versus Venezuela (soccer match),” reads the Facebook event calling for participation in the protests under the banner “in defense of democracy.”
HOY 11:59 a.m. - Plaza San Martín: Plantón KEIKO NO VAhttps://t.co/756Z7V2SP3#KeikoNoVa #TodosSomosNoaKeiko pic.twitter.com/Q1C40g6WNE
— No a Keiko Fujimori (@noakeiko) March 24, 2016
"If the Special Electoral Jury makes an announcement at midnight, we respond at midday."
The decision to keep Fujimori on the presidential ballot comes after lower-level electoral authorities ruled last week that Fujimori did not directly give gifts at an event hosted by a youth branch of her Popular Force party, called Factor K. Fujimori has denied any wrongdoing, despite photo evidence released in local media.
Activists and candidates including leftist presidential hopeful Veronika Mendoza have called on authorities to apply electoral rules evenly to ensure fair and transparent elections.
Two presidential candidates, Julio Guzman and Cesar Acuña, were kicked out of the race earlier this month. Guzman, previously in second place behind Fujimori, was barred from running over procedural errors, while Acuña was blocked for vote-buying. Anti-Fujimori protests have called for the front-runner to face the same scrutiny as Acuña.
Mendoza took to her Facebook account after the announcement to call out the inconsistency between the cases of Acuña and Fujimori, saying Peruvians are “fed up” with discrimination.
“In the face of all this dirty war and lies, we are going to continue growing,” Mendoza added. “We are a step away from the second round and two from winning.”
Anti-Fujimori protests have also highlighted the candidates ties to her brutal dictatorship of her father, Alberto Fujimori, whose regime oversaw a decade of forced disappearances and massacres in the U.S.-backed Dirty War and widespread human rights abuses, including forced sterilization of tens of thousands of poor and Indigenous women.
Fujimori is leading the polls with over 30 percent of the vote, followed by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in second place and Alfredo Barnechea and Veronika Mendoza in a tie for third place.
Whichever candidate secures the second place spot in Peru’s April 10 elections will face off against Fujimori in a run-off vote in June.
Organizers have called for a national day of action against Fujimori on April 5.
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