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13th June 2016

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (1956, PPE) elected president of Peru

Exeter College wishes to congratulate alumnus Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (1956, PPE), known as PPK, who has been elected president of Peru.

Peru uses a two-round voting system to elect its president. The first round was held on 10 April, with Keiko Fujimori of the Popular Force party progressing comfortably with 39.9% of votes and PPK of the Peruvians for Change party coming a distant second with 21.1% of votes.

The second round was a straight race between Fujimori and PPK. Opinion polls suggested that Fujimori held a lead, but that PPK had closed the gap dramatically, with around 42% of people backing Fujimori, around 39% backing PPK, and 19% undecided or preferring to abstain.

When Peruvians headed to the polling stations on 5 June the result was too close to predict. It took a week for the votes to be counted and PPK to be declared the winner by the thinnest of margins: 50.1% to Fujimori’s 49.9%, a difference of just 42,597 votes.

PPK, a former Wall Street financier and Prime Minister of Peru from 2005 to 2006, now faces a challenging term, with Fujimori’s Popular Force party holding a strong majority in congress: 71 seats compared to 20 for Peruvians for Change in a house of 130 seats.

After victory PPK tweeted his followers: “Thank you Peru! It’s time to work together for the future of our country.”

You can read more about the election and PPK’s victory on The Economist website.

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