Pedro Castillo declared president-elect of Peru

LIMA - The National Jury of Elections (JNE) of Peru on Monday night officially declared Pedro Castillo to be president-elect, a month and a half after the June 6 presidential run-off.

"I declare Mr. Jose Pedro Castillo Terrones President of the Republic, and Ms. Dina Ercilia Boluarte Zegarra, First Vice President of the Republic," the election body's highest authority, Jorge Salas Arenas, announced during a virtual ceremony.

According to the final election results, Castillo obtained 8,836,380 votes, or 50.12 percent, while rival Keiko Fujimori garnered 8,792,117 votes, or 49.87 percent, a margin of just 44,263 votes, said the National Office of Electoral Processes, the body in charge of organizing elections in Peru.

After the run-off, Fujimori, daughter of a former president, launched a legal crusade against her opponent's political party, Peru Libre, which she accused of using "systematic fraud" on election day.

She filed appeals to annul more than 200,000 votes in favor of the left-leaning candidate, but the majority of the appeals were dismissed by JNE, an autonomous constitutional organ.

Fujimori made her latest attempt to challenge run-off results announced by regional electoral juries in the cities of Huancavelica, Cajamarca, San Roman, Huamanga and Chota.

The appeals were rejected, in accordance with a JNE resolution, on the grounds that they were "unrelated to the causes for which the validity of the results ... can be legitimately disputed".

Fujimori acknowledged the election results released by the JNE on Monday, but said, "the truth will end up coming to light anyway".

Salas said he would "shortly announce the date and place" for delivering to the winners their respective credentials.