The phrase you encounter most often in coverage of Peru's election is "record field" 21. Thirty-five candidates stood for president in the first round. That is not a typo. Thirty-five. The Spanish Wikipedia tells us 8 this produced "una fuerte dispersión de los votos" — a strong dispersion of the votes — which is the sort of phrase you use when you are being polite about chaos.
“Thirty-five candidates is not a sign of democratic vitality. It is a sign that the word *party* has ceased to mean anything.”
What nobody quite says aloud is that thirty-five candidates is not a sign of democratic vitality. It is a sign that the word party has ceased to mean anything. When Keiko Fujimori placed first in the first round with 17% of the vote 8, she did so by winning less than one vote in five. Roberto Sánchez, the left-wing candidate who will face her in the runoff, came second by an even thinner margin. The right-wing vote split three ways — Fujimori, Rafael López Aliaga, and a constellation of others whose names appeared on ballots the size of tablecloths. The left consolidated behind Sánchez. This is the structural fact that polling obscures: Fujimori leads in the runoff surveys at 39% to Sánchez's 35% 28, but that four-point gap sits atop a first round in which the right collectively won more votes than it knows what to do with.
Peru has reinstated its Senate 9. The congress is bicameral again for the first time since 1992, which means there are now 130 deputies and 60 senators, all of whom were elected alongside the presidential candidates in April. Fujimori's Popular Force won the largest bloc — 41 deputies, 22 senators 13 — but no party has a majority in either chamber. The legislature is, in the phrase used by the Portuguese Wikipedia 13, "highly fragmented". This is what happens when you have thirty-five presidential candidates: the vote splinters downballot as well. The word coalition will do a great deal of work in the next five years.
The other phrase you encounter often is "post-electoral crisis" 11. López Aliaga, the far-right businessman who came third, accused the electoral authorities of fraud 912. The European Union and Peruvian authorities denied it 913. The National Electoral Jury ruled the first round would not be annulled 917. Voting had been extended by a day because some polling stations ran out of ballots 1617, which is the sort of logistical failure that becomes, in the hands of a losing candidate, evidence of conspiracy. López Aliaga now faces potential criminal charges for inciting civil disorder 9. The runoff is scheduled for 7 June. Between now and then, the phrase "according to" will be doing a great deal of work as well.
The Quechua word for fragmentation does not appear in any of the supplied sources, but one suspects it would be useful. Thirty-five candidates, a bicameral congress, and a four-point polling lead that rests on a coalition that does not yet exist. This is what counting looks like when you have forgotten how.