After nearly two months of waiting, amid baseless claims of fraud and even rumblings of a military coup, Pedro Castillo will on Wednesday become Peru’s president. The son of illiterate peasant farmers, Castillo’s rise to the top on Peru’s 200th anniversary of independence is hugely symbolic, but he will face huge challenges to unite the country. Receiving his presidential credentials last week, Castillo called for unity, emphatically rejecting claims he would seek to imitate “models from other countries”. While fraud claims have been discredited, Castillo beat his far-right opponent by only the narrowest of margins – just 44,263 out of 18.8m votes cast – or 50.126% of the vote over his rival’s 49.874%. Peru has the highest Covid-19 death rate per capita and the economic fallout has forced millions back into poverty.

Source: The Guardian July 27, 2021 06:00 UTC