LIMA (Reuters) – Less than two months before Peru’s presidential election, five candidates have emerged in the upper tier of a contest that appears headed for a second round of voting, according to an opinion poll released on Sunday.
Support for front-runner and former soccer goalkeeper George Forsyth, of the conservative National Restoration party, fell six percentage points to 11%, according to the poll. His closest rival is former legislator and lawyer Yonhy Lescano of the Popular Action party, who advanced four notches to 10%.
The survey by polling firm Ipsos Peru and published in the newspaper El Comercio.
Right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori had 8% support in the survey. This is her third run for the presidency. She is the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori.
Left-leaning psychologist and anthropologist Veronika Mendoza has 8% support and retired military officer Daniel Urresti has 7%. Centrist economist Julio Guzmán fell three percentage points to 4%.
The survey, including 1,210 respondents between February 10 and 11, had a margin of error of 2.81 percentage points.
The election for leader of the world’s second-largest copper producer is unpredictable, considering that eight weeks before the April 11 general elections, 32% of Peruvians say they will not support any candidate or do not know who to vote for.
A second round of voting will be held on June 6 between the top two vote getters if no one clinches more than 50% in April.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino, writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
