By Lucinda Elliott and Marco Aquino
LIMA, May 15 (Reuters) – Roberto Sanchez, a left-wing congressman whose plans to overhaul the mining sector have sparked investor concerns, will face conservative frontrunner Keiko Fujimori in Peru’s June 7 presidential runoff.
After weeks of delayed vote counting following an April general election, official results showed Sanchez secured 12.03% of the vote, a near 21,000-vote lead over the third-placed candidate.
Fujimori won 17.18% of the vote, but opinion polls indicate the second round will be closely fought.
A former cabinet minister under ousted and jailed former President Pedro Castillo, Sanchez is campaigning on a radical overhaul of the state.
Running for the leftist Together for Peru party, Sanchez, 57, emerged as a surprise contender in a crowded first-round race, calling for a new constitution to establish a “plurinational” state and courting disaffected rural and Indigenous voters.
Ahead of the April vote, Sanchez told Reuters that Peru needed a new beginning.
“We want a new social contract, a plurinational state that recognizes the true face of Peru,” he said.
Central to Sanchez’s platform is a proposal to convene a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, replacing the current charter adopted in the 1990s under the late President Alberto Fujimori, the father of his runoff rival.
Sanchez has said the existing system has failed to deliver equality, so he plans to put the question of constitutional change to a referendum.
“The rural vote, the Andean vote, the Quechua, Aymara and Amazonian vote were never respected,” Sanchez said in the interview with Reuters in April at a party office in Lima, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat that originally belonged to Castillo and is typical of those used in some Peruvian rural areas.
Sanchez says Congress has stripped citizens of the right to call referendums and has rewritten large parts of the constitution without public consent.
He also advocates greater state oversight of natural resources, and wants to review mining and gas contracts, impose taxes on windfall profits and levy a wealth tax on higher earners. He said this would not amount to expropriation but a “rebalancing” in favor of communities where extraction takes place.
“We are not talking about expropriating anyone’s property,” Sanchez said. “We are demanding justice for a people that remain poor despite living atop enormous wealth.”
“Thirty years of mining and the mining towns are still the poorest in our country.”
If elected, his policies would face challenges in the legislature, where right-wing parties command a majority in both the Senate and the lower house following the April election.
CASTILLO TIES
Sanchez’s proposals and close ties with ex-president Castillo have unsettled investors in one of the world’s top producers of copper and other metals.
Castillo, who was ousted in 2022 after a short-lived and chaotic presidency that ended with him attempting to dissolve Congress, has formally endorsed Sanchez from jail. He faces charges for rebellion and conspiracy against the state.
Sanchez said he would not transfer power back to Castillo if elected. He has, however, pledged to seek Castillo’s release and to pursue justice for those killed during protests following his removal.
A former minister of foreign trade under Castillo, Sanchez has argued Peru should remain open to international partners but on “just” terms. He has emphasized technology transfer, industrialization and environmental protections.
RELIGIOUS ROOTS
Raised in an Indigenous family with roots in Peru’s south, Sanchez said he had a modest upbringing and once aspired to become a priest, tracing his origins in politics to church-based social work.
He has said that as a Catholic he supports abortion only in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is at risk, and opposes any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation, race or religion.
Sanchez’s party has proposed sweeping changes to deal with corruption, including harsher penalties, lifetime bans from public office, and an overhaul of the justice system. He has also called for the armed forces to support police in combating rising organized crime, which polls show is a key voter concern.
“Murder, insecurity and corruption are one single problem,” he said. “And the fight must be total.”
Sanchez himself has faced financial crime allegations. A Peruvian prosecutor has accused him of making false statements in administrative proceedings and falsifying information related to campaign contributions. His lawyer has rejected the allegations. A judge is expected to decide on May 27 if the case will go to trial, according to local media reports.
(Reporting by Lucinda Elliott and Marco Aquino, editing by Cassandra Garrison and Rosalba O’Brien)
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