Daughter of Peru's jailed former leader winning first-round election

LIMA, April 11 (UPI) -- With about two-thirds of votes counted in Peru's presidential election, Keiko Fujimori -- daughter of controversial former President Alberto Fujimori -- is leading by a wide margin.

About 66 percent of votes have been counted and Fujimori leads with nearly 40 percent of support, Peru's El Comercio reports. Pedro Kuczinsky, a former World Bank economist, is second with nearly 24 percent of votes while leftist Veronika Mendoza has earned 17 percent of support.

A second-round vote between Fujimori and Kuczinsky is expected to be held as no candidate is likely to win more than 50 percent of support.

Fujimori's father is a divisive figure in Peru. He is serving 25 years in prison for ordering death squads to commit massacres on civilians during his attempts to end insurgency by the Maoist Shining Path rebel group when he served from 1990 to 2000.

Some Peruvians have said they would never support anyone linked to former president Fujimori, while some support Fujimori and credit him for largely defeating the rebel group.

About 69,000 people died in the decades-long conflict. Remnants of the group are believed to control areas in Peru's coca-growing regions with the support of drug gangs.