Peruvian election officials say it may take until the end of this month to determine which candidate will face front-runner Ollanta Humala in the second round of presidential elections.
Officials are still counting ballots from the first round of the election on April 9. They say the gap between the two candidates vying for second place has narrowed further.
With 90 percent of votes counted, former center-left president Alan Garcia now leads pro-business congresswoman Lourdes Flores by 89,000 votes. That gap has narrowed from nearly 110,000 votes Saturday.
Officials say several factors are delaying the count of the remaining votes. Vote-tally sheets representing eight percent of the ballots are being reviewed after legal challenges. Election workers are also making slow progress in tabulating votes from abroad, many of which were cast for Ms. Flores.
Since no candidate won more than half the vote in the first round, a presidential run-off will be held 30 days after final results are announced. Nationalist candidate Humala, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, is leading with around 31 percent of the vote.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, and AP.
