LIMA, Peru—All bets are off in Peru’s presidential race after the disqualification of the moderate economist who was the chief challenger to front-runner Keiko Fujimori, whose father is a disgraced former president.
Analysts say the decision throws the April 10 contest into confusion. It will not necessarily give Fujimori the strength to win the simple majority needed to avoid a second round of voting, but does make it likely she will face a weaker challenger in an eventual runoff.
Peru’s electoral council on Wednesday blocked the candidacy of Julio Guzman, saying the technical mechanism by which his party chose him violated the party’s own internal rules.
Critics of the ruling described it as petty, and warned the disqualification undermines confidence in the country’s democratic process.
A few thousand people marched through the capital Friday night demanding that the electoral council also disqualify Fujimori, a center-right politician whose father, former President Alberto Fujimori, is imprisoned for corruption and authorizing death squads. Peru’s institutions have struggled to reclaim legitimacy since the strongman’s time in office.
