Alberto Fujimori’s daughter leads in first round

LIMA. — Centre-right candidate Keiko Fujimori had a wide lead in the first round of Peru’s presidential election with two-thirds of the votes counted at the time of going to press. Fujimori had 39 percent and looked set to face Pedro Kuczynski, a former World Bank economist, in a June run-off vote. Kuczynski had 24 percent while leftist Veronika Mendoza has 17 percent.

Fujimori, the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, says tackling crime is her priority. She is also supported by some Peruvians who credit her father with defeating the country’s Maoist Shining Path rebel group.

However, other Peruvians have said they would never support anyone associated with her father, who is currently serving 25 years in prison for ordering death squads to massacre civilians during his attempts to end the insurgency.

The Shining Path rebel group was largely dismantled in the 1990s after a decade-long conflict that killed about 69 000 people. However, rebels estimated to number in the hundreds still control areas of jungle in a coca-growing region of the country and the Peruvian authorities say they have joined forces with drug gangs.

Remnants of the group are thought to have been behind a deadly attack on a vehicle carrying election materials in a remote coca-growing region ahead of the election. Peru is one of the biggest coca leaf and cocaine producers in the world, according to the US authorities. — BBC.