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| - Peru's leftist presidential hopeful Pedro Castillo, narrowly leading in a vote count already nine days under way, on Tuesday rejected calls from the rightwing camp for elections to be annulled. "The calls continue for an election to be annulled," Castillo told foreign journalists at his party's headquarters in Lima, adding: "We are patiently awaiting a result" even as his rival Keiko Fujimori has claimed fraud and her backers have called for new elections to be held. On Monday, lawmaker and retired admiral Jorge Montoya, a Fujimori backer, called for "new elections" to be held. With 63 other retired generals and admirals, he questioned the fairness of the June 6 vote -- prompting Peru's defense ministry to stress the group "does not represent the Armed Forces." Supporters of Fujimori have been protesting outside the offices of the ONPE electoral body, which organized the vote and the count, and the JNE elections jury, which is reviewing challenges to the process and must announce the winner. "I do not know if it is legally possible to annul the elections, but every day there is evidence of manipulation of electoral records and a series of irregularities," Fujimori advisor Fernando Rospigliosi has told AFP. With over 99.9 percent of ballots counted, rural school teacher Castillo, 51, led by 44,800 votes or 50.12 percent to Fujimori's 49.87 percent, according to ONPE data. Observers from the Organization of American States have declared the ballot free and with no "serious irregularities." Yet Fujimori has asked an election jury to annul tens of thousands of ballots, which could flip the balance in her favor. A review of her application is expected to last several days. Peruvians voted last Sunday for their fifth president in three years after a series of crises and corruption scandals saw three different leaders in office in a single week last November. fj/ljc/mlr/bfm
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