Kuczynski likely winner of Peru presidential election

LIMA, June 10 (UPI) -- Economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has likely won Peru's cliff-hanger presidential election by the narrowest margin in decades.

Kuczynski received 50.12% of votes to 49.88% for rival Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former long-time President Alberto Fujimori, the electoral commission said.

Another 50,000 ballots must still be sorted out by an electoral court before an official winner can be named. Fujimori, who had led in polls until just days before the election, has yet to concede.

Kuczynski tweeted "It's time to work together for the future of our country," in a thank you to the country.

"We want a united country, reconciled, and ready to have a dialogue," he said Thursday in Lima. "Let's not confuse dialogue with weakness. We are going to be decisive but we will work for all Peruvians."

Kuczynski, 77, former finance minister known and Wall Street banker, was educated at Oxford and Princeton, will be the country's oldest elected president if officially declared the winner.

Fujimori's father Alberto, though popular during most of his ten years in office, eventually dissolved congress with soldiers and purged the judiciary in 1992. He is now in prison for crimes against humanity.