Peru's president-elect Kuczynski refuses to discuss political alliances

Peru's president-elect, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, said Friday at a press conference that it was too early to discuss whether he would make any "political alliances" in forming his government.

"It is very premature to speak of the political alliances of the members of the cabinet," said Kuczynski, who will take over from President Ollanta Humala on July 28.

Kuczynski won a tight victory over his rival, Keiko Fujimori, with just 50.12 percent of the vote against her 49.88 percent from the election on June 5. Despite this close contest and after initial rumblings from her camp that she would contest the result, Fujimori announced on Friday afternoon that she recognized Kuczynski's victory.

In a statement, Fujimori said she accepted the democratic results from the National Office of Electoral Processes.

However, the winner said he would seek to grow close to "important players" in Congress, where Fujimori has the support of 73 lawmakers, giving her an absolute majority in the 130-seat chamber.

Kuczynski also added that he would appoint Alfredo Thorne, an economist who led the winning campaign, as Minister of Economy. Furthermore, the current Minister of Education, Jaime Saavedra, has been invited to remain in his position in the next government.

The president-elect said that, over the next few days, he hoped to shore up a broad base of support for his government and to appoint more ministers.

In terms of specific policies, Kuczynski explained one of the first actions of his government would be tackle rising criminality, which has become a real source of concern to many Peruvians.

Policies announced during his winning campaign also include modernization reforms, including the improvement of public services for poorer Peruvians, easier access to credit for SMEs, and a salary increase for education and healthcare professionals. Endit