JOIN USThe second-place finisher could easily become president in a June 5 runoff as none of former army Lt Col Ollanta Humala's leading rivals have shown themselves similarly bent on shaking up the free market-oriented status quo.
Humala won the first round in 2006 only to be defeated 53 per cent to 47 per cent by Alan Garcia in a runoff.
Three exit polls yesterday showed a technical tie for second place between Keiko Fujimori, 35-year-old daughter of the imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori - whom Peruvians alternately adore and vilify - and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a 72-year-old former World Bank economist and investment banker.
The exit polls' reliability was shaking, however, because they did not consult the 750,000 Peruvian voters abroad.
In third was Alejandro Toledo, Peru's president from 2001-2006. Pre-election polls showed he would defeat Humala in a second round while Kuczynski and Fujimori would have a harder time. In order win outright, a candidate needed a simple majority.
Humala has spooked foreign investors by promising a greater state role in the economy and to divert natural gas exports to the domestic market.
That's just fine with Federico Sandoval, a 60-year-old veterinarian in Lima's sprawling lower class Villa El Salvador district. Sandoval said he voted for Humala because the corruption that has long been a hallmark of Peruvian politics - and that many believe worsened under President Garcia - needs to stop.
"In order to improve the situation there need to be changes and they should be radical," Sandoval said.
Politics in this resource-rich Andean nation have been volatile since the 1980s, when its discredited political parties all but dissolved, and yesterday's vote was the most unpredictable in decades.