Ollanta Humala will face pro-business rivals in a June 5 runoff with the promise to redistribute country's wealth.
Humala, 48, who missed out on the 2006 presidency, won 27.62 per cent of the vote, according to the electoral authority's partial count at 10:30pm local time (0330 GMT) on Sunday.
| FACTBOX: Peru POLLS | ||||||||||
Source: National Electoral Processes Office (ONPE) |
Keiko Fujimori, 35-year-old daughter of the imprisoned former President Alberto Fujimori and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a 72-year-old former World Bank economist and investment banker, fought a close battle behind.
Trailing them was Alejandro Toledo, Peru's former president from 2001-2006, who sunk in popularity during the campaign, with 15.4 per cent.
Pre-election polls showed he would defeat Humala in a second round while Kuczynski and Fujimori would have a harder time.
"We want the wealth of Peru to be well distributed," said Juan Urteaga, 18, from the Andean city of Cajamarca.
"How is it that my city is close to one of the world's biggest gold mines, Yanacocha, but my city has one of Peru's highest poverty rates?"
Discredited rivals
Polls suggest both Fujimori and Kuczynski would have trouble defeating Humala in a second round vote.
Fujimori supports existing free-market policies, but is shunned by many Peruvians because her father, former president Alberto Fujimori, is in prison for corruption and human rights crimes stemming from his crackdown on guerrillas in the 1990s.
Kuczynski a former prime minister known as "El Gringo" because of his European parents, would have trouble gaining traction outside of Lima, where he is strongly backed by wealthy voters.
Humala, who led a short-lived military revolt in 2000, has softened his anti-capitalist tone since.
"We are willing to make many concessions to unite Peru, we are going to talk with all political forces," Humala told cheering supporters. "Social problems must be resolved through dialogue."
In order to win outright on Sunday, a candidate needed a simple majority.
With emotions running high, officials have called for caution since a clear picture could take several days to emerge.
Humala's image makeover
Almost 20 million people were obliged to vote to replace President Alain Garcia, with a fairer division of Peru's booming economy - backed by rich mineral resources - a key issue for more than a third of the population still living in poverty.
Humala has promised a "great transformation and great redistribution of riches".
He has surged in the race by recasting himself as a moderate in the vein of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and distancing himself from his former political mentor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
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| Humala has promised a "great transformation and great redistribution of riches" [Reuters] |
His rivals have sought to hurt his chances by saying he would step up state control over the economy, rolling back reforms and jeopardising some $40bn of foreign investment lined up for the next decade in mining and energy exploration.
Moody's ratings agency said Peru's investment-grade credit rating would not be threatened by an eventual Humala victory.
Still, Peru's sol currency and the country's main stock index have dipped over the past two weeks on worries Humala could raise mining taxes, hike state subsidies or tighten control of "strategic" sectors like electricity.
The compulsory vote throughout the South American nation, which stretches from the Amazon to the Andes and the Pacific Ocean, was also for 130 legislators for the one-chamber Congress, which was set to remain fragmented, according to partial results.
curtsy-Al Jazeera
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