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Toledo Wins First Round in Peru's President Election
Alejandro Toledo with Indian roots finished first in Peru's election Sunday, but did not gained enough votes to avoid a runoff, exit polls said.
Nearly 15 million Peruvians were registered to vote a new president. The election was Peru's first since the ouster of former president Alberto Fujimori.
Exit polls by four leading institutes gave 40 to 43 percent support to Toledo, who is followed by Garcia, taking between 24.3 and 26 percent, while Flores received 21 to 22.8 percent of the votes.
That means Toledo, falling short of a majority, must face his strongest challenge from ex-President Alan Garcia or ex-congresswoman Lourdes Flores in a second round expected in late May, even though he got a comfortable lead over others.
Toledo's camp said he would only comment when more firm results were known. Garcia told reports he was "calmly awaiting confirmation of these projections." Flores also said she was not giving up.
First official results were due after 10:00 p.m. (0300 GMT Monday), and expected to trickle in overnight.
Toledo, 55, who has a doctorate in economics from Stanford University, became one of the main opposition members when Fujimori was in power. In Peru's presidential election campaign this time, Toledo stayed as the front-runner all along.
Polls have shown most Peruvians expect Toledo to become their next president but some analysts predicted that Garcia's support would continue growing and Garcia could eventually pose a serious threat to Toledo.
Garcia, 51, left Peru amid accusations of mismanagement and corruption at the end of his 1985-1990 administration. But after he returned from nine years in exile in January, Garcia gained renewed support rapidly.
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