Peru’s leftist candidate Roberto Sanchez has qualified to compete in a runoff presidential election, results showed hours after he was indicted on charges of campaign finance violations.
Sanchez narrowly defeated far-right candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga and will face conservative Keiko Fujimori in the June 7 runoff.
Sanchez won 12 percent of votes while Lopez Aliaga took 11.9 percent — a difference of 18,799 votes.
Fujimori led with 17.1 percent in a country that has been through eight leaders in the past decade.
Legal pressure mounts
Earlier Wednesday, Peru's public prosecutor charged Sanchez with campaign finance violations and requested a prison sentence of more than 5 years.
The indictment alleges inconsistencies in his political party's financial reports from 2018 to 2020.
"Roberto Sanchez is alleged to be responsible for the crimes of making false statements in an administrative proceeding and falsifying information on contributions," the document read.
Sanchez allegedly received more than $57,000 in unreported contributions.
"There was never any fraud or misappropriation," Sanchez said in a social media post, claiming the accusations are an attempt to discredit him politically.
A hearing scheduled for May 27 will determine whether the case goes to trial.
While Lopez Aliaga has claimed the election was fraudulent, the European Union's observer mission has given the vote a clean bill of health.
