Toledo plans a non-violent campaign on the models of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King to force fresh elections. At a mass rally in Lima's historic center Sunday night, former World Bank economist Toledo denounced Fujimori as a dictator and vowed to overthrow him. A crowd of tens of thousands hailed Toledo, son of an Andean peasant, as the moral victor. The official figures suggested that the country of 25 million people was split roughly down the middle. With about 70 percent counted, Fujimori had 50.3 percent of votes while Toledo had 16.5 percent.
Voting is compulsory in Peru, with a fine of for abstainers.
President Clinton said last week he would review relations with Peru if Sunday's vote was not postponed to allow time to clear up concerns over glitches in electoral computers, media bias and state handouts to the poor. Fujimori told Reuters Saturday that the United States was misinformed about Peru's elections and that he would avert U.S. sanctions by presenting Washington with the facts of a vote he said was fair and just. The OAS withdrew its observers from Peru's vote after Fujimori's government refused to postpone the election to allay fraud fears. Pro-government television channels sent cameras to a planned Fujimori victory rally in an impoverished shanty town on the arid outskirts of Lima Sunday night. But they waited in vain for him to show up as official results showed the incumbent with about 50 percent of the votes.