Peruvian President Headed For Re-Election

President Alberto Fujimori, credited with crushing both inflation and a Maoist rebellion, won a second five-year term Sunday in Peru’s first peaceful election since 1980, unofficial exit polls said.

Fujimori denied accusations by rival candidates, including former U.N. Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, that he was involved in a vote fraud scheme uncovered days before the election.

Exit polls by Apoyo, Peru’s largest polling firm, gave Fujimori an overwhelming victory with 60 percent of the vote, followed by 26 percent for Perez de Cuellar. The margin would be enough to avoid a runoff.

Fujimori said he was waiting for official results, expected by midnight Sunday. Election board officials said the final tally would not be available for five days.

But Fujimori said he was encouraged by preliminary figures and wanted to thank the Peruvian people, “who not only have supported me in this election but also during my five years in office.”

Apoyo has been quite accurate at projecting the outcome of previous elections. Its polling margin of error is 3 percentage points.

CPI, another respected polling firm, said Fujimori had won 62 percent of the votes while Perez de Cuellar received 20 percent.

All of Peru’s elections since 1980 have been marred by violence from the Shining Path, the Maoist guerrillas who have been all but defeated since the capture of their leader, Abimael Guzman, in 1992.

On Sunday, soldiers guarded voting stations with rifles, but their numbers were smaller than in past years and they did not appear to be needed.