Fujimori to Recognize Peru’s Vote Results in Near-Concession

(Bloomberg) -- Peruvian candidate Keiko Fujimori said she will recognize the results of the country’s contested presidential election, in her closest admission of defeat yet to rival Pedro Castillo.

Fujimori, who lost the June 6 runoff by some 44,000 votes and has refused to concede by saying the election was fraudulent, said on Monday that she will accept the proclamation planned by Peru’s electoral court. While she called such a proclamation “illegitimate,” she called for the start of “a new phase” in the Andean country.

“I’ll recognize the results because that’s what the law and the constitution I swore to defend mandate,” she said in a speech in Lima. “In the next days, the electoral court judges will validate a process full of irregularities.”

Fujimori’s comments come as the electoral court is getting ready to declare Castillo as the winner of the election, ending six weeks of uncertainty amid revisions and allegations of fraud. Castillo led the vote count by a narrow margin of 50.1% to 49.9% as Fujimori ran out of options after electoral authorities rejected all her appeals.

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