LIMA (Reuters) - Centre-right presidential hopeful Keiko Fujimori gained more ground over her centrist rival Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in a Datum opinion poll on Friday, the third survey in the past week to show her winning Peru's June 5 run-off election.
Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori, had 52.9 percent of valid votes compared with Kuczynski's 47.1 percent, according to Datum's mock voting exercise. The survey of 1,979 voters May 23-25 had a 2.2 point margin of error.
The two free-market advocates in the world's third top copper supplier were locked in a statistical tie in previous Datum polls.
However, 13.7 percent of respondents cast blank or spoiled ballots, giving Kuczynski room to pick up more support if he can exploit fears about Fujimori's ties to her father's authoritarian government and alleged drug trafficking.
Fujimori has climbed in opinion polls even after Univision reported on May 15 that a top aide is under investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). The DEA declined to confirm or deny the report.
Fujimori and her aide have denied wrongdoing and said they were victims of a smear campaign.
Ipsos gave Fujimori a 5.2 point lead over Kuczynski in a poll published on Sunday before a debate later in the day that she was widely considered to have won. Local pollster CPI put her 8.4 points ahead on Thursday.
Fujimori has portrayed Kuczynski, a 77-year-old former World Bank economist, as out-of-touch and part of Peru's elite. She is seen as stronger on crime and more supportive of the Andean country's provinces and social programs for the poor, according to Datum.
However, 57 percent of respondents in the Datum survey said allegations that her party is linked to drug-trafficking and money laundering were correct, compared to 38 percent who considered them false.