LIMA, PERU, MAY 30 -- The United States is "deeply concerned about the manner in which" Sunday's runoff election was conducted, the State Department said Tuesday.
"Secretary (Madeleine) Albright will be consulting with Secretary General Gaviria and our regional partners on next steps," spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement.
Albright is in Portugal at a summit between the United States and members of the European Union.
The State Department awaits a report from Peru election observer mission chief Eduardo Stein's report before an emergency meeting Wednesday of the OAS, Boucher said. Stein left Peru in frustration Friday after the Peruvian government said it was going go ahead with Sunday's vote. He had asked for a 10-day postponement to test software used in the elections. Both the Fujimori government and challenger Alejandro Toledo balked in postponement negotiations.
Fujimori's quest for a third five-year term as president spun into international and domestic crisis when his government decided to hold Sunday's election without support or observation.
Fujimori's challenger, Toledo, who worked his way from a shoeshine boy in a poor northern Peruvian town to a Stanford Ph.D. and a job stint as a World Bank consultant, withdrew from the runoff election last week, declaring the election rigged by the Fujimori government.
International observer groups -- including the OAS -- pulled observers in from the interior Thursday night and withdrew support and participation.
President Alberto Fujimori responded to international criticism but stopped short of addressing the United States Monday night in a televised interview on CNN.
"This is the result of an election which is just, fair, transparent and unfortunately we couldn't have international observers, as we wanted. We invited them. But this is not a dictatorship," Fujimori said.
But Toledo reaffirmed his vow Tuesday to oust Fujimori by the 28 July inauguration.
"National peaceful resistance and the actions of the international community will remove him," affirmed Toledo at a conference with the foreign press.
Toledo said he would remain in Peru and send representatives to the Wednesday OAS meeting in Washington. Toledo said that he doesn't welcome sanctions, but they might bring Fujimori to his knees.
Following the close of the polls Sunday night, an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 thousand people gathered in the historic Plaza de San Martin at a rally called by Toledo.
Lima streets have remained calm as the city returned to work this week. But a group of university students -- la Federacin de Estudiantes -- announced it will rally in front of the Public Ministry building Wednesday afternoon. Yomar Melnder, the group's president, also said students are organizing a June 8 march.
Toledo has only mentioned that he will call for a march "of millions of Peruvians" on Lima on July 26, if Fujimori moves for a third ascension to the presidency on July 28.
The Peruvian National Electoral Process Office reported the official vote tally 94.42 percent complete with Fujimori winning 74.57 percent and Toledo bringing in 25.43 percent of the valid votes. Intentionally voided and blank votes accounted for some one-third of the count.
For the business community, the coming actions of the United States will have "significant implications in the decisions taken by foreign investors," according to a Lima-based representative of the investment bank Morgan Stanley.
"In the case of projects involving longer terms, the decisions in all cases will be to postpone and wait a while until the political situation evolves over the next two months," Carlos Perez said in a radio interview Tuesday.
"The United States has great weight in the decisions" made by the World Bank and the Inter-American Bank, he added.
