Peru's electoral authority chief Piero Corvetto resigned on Tuesday after weeks of mounting pressure over logistical failures that marred the country's general election on 12 April and left its outcome still unresolved. In a letter shared on his X account and addressed to the National Electoral Jury (JNE) — Peru's highest electoral authority — Corvetto wrote that he hoped his departure would "contribute to establishing a climate of greater confidence in elections." The JNE accepted his resignation unanimously and had previously filed a formal complaint against him and several other officials from the national electoral organisation, known as ONPE, for alleged violations of voters' rights.

The crisis stems from severe logistical failures on election day, when delays in delivering voting materials prevented more than 50,000 people from casting ballots, forcing authorities to extend the vote by an additional day. Corvetto acknowledged the disruptions but characterised them as "technical operational problems" and denied that any irregularities had taken place. The scale of the disenfranchisement has proved politically significant: the number of affected voters exceeds the slender margin currently separating several candidates competing for a coveted second-place finish.

With nearly 94% of ballots counted, conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori — daughter of jailed former president Alberto Fujimori and a well-known figure in Peruvian politics — holds roughly 17% of the vote and appears set to advance to a June run-off. The race for second place remains too close to call, with left-wing congressman Roberto Sánchez and far-right candidate Rafael López Aliaga separated by around 14,000 votes. Two major polling firms produced conflicting projections over the weekend, reflecting the extreme tightness of the contest. López Aliaga had led early in the count, but Sánchez gained ground as votes from remote rural and Andean areas — harder to tally due to access difficulties — were processed.

The slow pace of vote-counting has fuelled fraud allegations from several candidates and prompted business leaders and lawmakers to call for Corvetto's removal. European Union electoral observers, however, stated last week that they had found no evidence of fraud. Authorities have been reviewing thousands of contested ballots due to inconsistencies and errors in tally sheets, a process that has further delayed the final result. The JNE does not expect to certify the official outcome before 15 May.

The election, in which more than 27 million Peruvians were called to vote — participation is mandatory — also renewed parliament and marked the country's return to a bicameral legislature for the first time since 1990. The dysfunction surrounding it reflects a broader pattern of institutional fragility in a country that has cycled through six presidents in under a decade, and the uncertainty over the final result is likely to sustain political tensions well into the coming weeks.