Peru's presidential race likely headed for runoff

Polls show Peru's presidential race on Sunday is likely headed towards a runoff on June 5, as none of the contenders is expected to net enough votes for an outright victory.

All the latest polls place candidate Keiko Fujimori at the top of the list of 10 contenders but show that the former First Lady of Peru is unlikely to garner over 50 percent of the votes needed for an outright win in the first round.

According to an IPSOS poll published by Peru's RPP news network, Fujimori leads voter preferences with 33 percent of the votes.

The virtually tied are conservative economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, or PPK, with 16 percent, and left-leaning candidate Veronika Mendoza, who is seen as a young rising star of Peru's progressive political current, with 15 percent.

Candidates rounding out the top five spots are Alfredo Barnechea (8 percent), ex-president Alan Garcia (5 percent) and Gregorio Santos (2 percent).

For frontrunner Fujimori, the biggest obstacle she faces is not one of the other candidates, but her father, disgraced ex-president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).

Many Peruvians fear she would use her power if elected to pardon her father and extend his hold on power. The former leader is serving a lengthy prison sentence for human rights violations and undermining constitutional order to maintain and extend his hold on power. But his daughter has pledged not to pardon him.

Still, just four days before the elections on Wednesday, an estimated 50,000 protesters filled Lima's central square as part of annual demonstrations marking the anniversary of Fujimori's "self-coup" on April 5, 1992, when the ex-president dissolved Congress.

Some 20 million registered voters will go to the polls on Sunday to elect a successor to President Ollanta Humala, who defeated Keiko Fujimori by a slight margin to win a runoff in 2011. Endi