'People have awakened': Peru's Castillo closes in on election win

FILE PHOTO: Peru's presidential candidate Pedro Castillo addresses supporters from the headquarters of the "Free Peru" party, in Lima, Peru June 8, 2021. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda

LIMA (Reuters) -Socialist Pedro Castillo was closing in on victory in Peru's presidential election on Thursday, holding a slim lead of some 63,000 votes over conservative rival Keiko Fujimori, who has yet to concede and has alleged fraud despite scant evidence.

Castillo had some 50.2% of the vote and a 0.36 percentage point lead with 99.4% of ballots tallied, with only a small number of contested ballots still being scrutinized.