A leftist ex-army officer and a right-wing politician close to her jailed ex-president father were yesterday headed for the second round of Peru’s presidential vote, and the nightmares of many moderates.
Ollanta Humala, 48, led with 31.9 percent, according to the electoral authority’s count of more than 90.5 percent of ballots cast in Sunday’s general elections.
Lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, 35, won 23.3 percent, stretching a lead over Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, a 72-year-old former liberal Cabinet chief, at 18.7 percent.
The top candidates are both accused of being populist and authoritarian, but are now set for a runoff on June 5.
They both successfully tapped into the frustrations of more than a third of Peruvians who still live in poverty despite more than a decade of growth backed by copper, gold and silver exports.
“The result reflects poorly on Peru’s political class. It also reveals there was too much complacency with economic success,” said Michael Shifter, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a US think tank.
Humala and Fujimori now need to convince about 45 percent of voters, many of whom live in the capital, Lima, who backed less divisive candidates.
“They perceive both candidates as a threat to the democratic system,” Peruvian writer and analyst Mario Ghibellini said.
BIG PROMISES
Humala, who just missed out on the 2006 presidency, late on Sunday promised “a big change, a big redistribution of riches.”
Last time around, the former lieutenant colonel paid for his outspoken admiration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, the leader of Latin America’s anti-liberal left.
He now looks to Brazil’s moderate leftist for inspiration and distances himself from Chavez.
He is notorious for leading a failed revolt in 2000 against former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori and also for involvement in the 1990s fight against Maoist Shining Path guerrillas, when he was accused of rights abuses which have not been proven.
He has sought to reassure nervous investors with promises of careful fiscal policy and respect for free trade deals.
However, he still promises “state policies” in sectors like energy, taxing the profits of mining groups and seeks to change the constitution, which critics say is a first step to imitating Chavez’s moves to reinforce his own potential power.
Peruvian President Alan Garcia called on Monday for “calm in the middle-class sectors, especially, calm to national investors, large and small, calm to international markets and big investments,” as Lima’s stock exchange fell 3.15 percent.
Keiko Fujimori, 35, favors free-market policies, but is mistrusted by many because her father is in jail for corruption and human rights crimes from during his crackdown on leftist guerrillas in the 1990s.
He features heavily in her campaign and he and his influential political and military cronies were expected to influence her rule.
TICKET TO FREEDOM
Many fear she will try to free her father if elected.
Late on Monday she told reporters she would meet with leaders of the Peru’s political parties “to find common ground” and build alliances as her match-up builds with Humala for the June poll.
As the race heats up in the next two months, Fujimori was expected to tap into concerns that Humala might reverse policies that have helped turn Peru into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.
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