ELECTION RESULTS (81.1 PERCENT REPORTING): HUMALA

UNCLAS LIMA 001391 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PINR PE SUBJECT: ELECTION RESULTS (81.1 PERCENT REPORTING): HUMALA HOLDS ON TO FIRM LEAD, BUT GARCIA PASSES FLORES IN RACE FOR RUN-OFF SPOT REF: LIMA 1373 ¶1. SUMMARY: With 81.1 percent of voting tables reporting, Union por el Peru (UPP) candidate Ollanta Humala has a nearly five point lead over his closest challenger. That happens to be APRA's Alan Garcia, who has narrowly overtaken Unidad Nacional's Lourdes Flores in the race for the second run-off slot. Office of National Electoral Processes (ONPE) director Magdalena Chu expects to have preliminary reports on 100 percent of the voting tables by 9/15. With 8.8 percent of the vote tally sheets currently being challenged, however, it may well take even longer for the National Electoral Board to resolve all ballot disputes and determine who will accompany Humala in the second round. END SUMMARY. ¶2. As of 17:00 local time on 4/10, ONPE's reported that, with 81.1 percent of voting table tally sheets processed, the "valid vote" (not counting blank or spoiled ballots) was as follows: -- Ollanta Humala 29.57 percent -- Alan Garcia 24.98 percent -- Lourdes Flores 24.81 percent ¶3. ONPE director Magdalena Chu said that she expected her organization would be able to report the preliminary results from 100 percent of voting tables within five days. Out of 71,788 vote tally sheets processed, however, 6,307 have been challenged (363 votes questioned, 3,941 alleged to have material errors, six in which nullification is sought, and 1,997 suffering from illegible writing or other faults). ¶4. COMMENT: The race between Garcia and Flores for the second run-off spot remains too close to call. The 16,693 tally sheets that still have to be counted reportedly are mainly from rural areas (which are expected to favor Garcia) and from outside the country (which are expected to favor Flores),so that neither seems to have a leg-up on the other based on the character of the remaining voting tables. Given the closeness of the contest -- Garcia and Lourdes are separated by only 16,357 votes or .17 percent -- it is quite possible that, even after all the preliminary counts are in, a final determination as to who finishes ahead of the other will depend on how quickly the National Electoral Board (JNE) can resolve the disputed vote tally sheets (currently 8.8 percent of the total). END COMMENT. STRUBLE