Lima

Peru was busy distributing ballots in polling stations on Saturday (April 10) as the country's prepares to vote for a new president.

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The election on Sunday (April 11) is being framed by a deadly surge in coronavirus cases and held under the long shadow of a constitutional crisis last year that saw the Andean nation go through three leaders in a week.

Ballots were distributed amid tight security provided by the National Police force.

As candidates closed their campaigns, pollsters say half a dozen of them are still in the running for a top two spot, which would see them move into a second round run-off vote in June. Predicting which two will make it, they say, is impossible.

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The uncertainty over the elections comes as Peru battles the peak of COVID-19 cases with hospitals overwhelmed and after the world's no. 2 copper producer suffered its worst economic drop in three decades last year. The twists and turns have buffeted markets and Peru's sol currency.

In the final pre-election polls, Keiko Fujimori, 45, the daughter of the imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori, has climbed to the top of the pack, but with a slim lead. A radical leftist professor Pedro Castillo, 51, has also shot up from nowhere.

No candidate has more than 13% of the voting intention and 'no vote' still remains the most popular single choice.

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Close behind are Yonhy Lescano, 62, the recent poll leader whose populist style has lured voters, Opus Dei member Rafael López Aliaga, 60, liberal economist Hernando de Soto, 79, and leftist Verónika Mendoza, 40. Ex-soccer star George Forsyth, 38, also remains in the mix.

Castillo, who has surprised pollsters to suddenly arrive near the top of the pack, closed his campaign on Thursday night calling for a change to Peru's Magna Carta, something the country's youth had called for amid angry protests last year.

Pollsters said that Peru's 25 million registered voters were disenchanted with all candidates, and that more radical positions were gaining amid wider uncertainties.

There are 18 presidential candidates and Peruvians will also elect 130 members of the unicameral Congress. Voting is mandatory with a fine of up to $25.

The polls open at 0700 (1200 GMT) on Sunday and close 12 hours later, when pollster Ipsos Peru will give an exit poll. The electoral office has announced that it will offer its first partial result at 1130 pm local time (0430 GMT on Monday)