Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Tim ReidyMay 23, 2011

From Mensaje magazine via Mirada Global, a look at the two candidates who are vying for the presidency of Peru in a June 5 run off: Ollanta Humala, a military nationalist, and Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimoro, who is in prison for murder:

What seems to be quite clear after the results of the [initial April 10] elections is the volatility of the Peruvian electorate. It is a characteristic that political scientist Jorge Aragón believes is directly linked to the party system: “The nature of the political parties explains why voters today ‘are on the loose’”. They are instrumental groups that get together and separate every year and who appear extremely weakened after having ruled the country. It’s been a very clear characteristic in the last years, as well as in this last election. The APRA only won four of the one hundred and thirty seats of Congress. An electorate that is defined as “passionate” is therefore prone to be lured by “last minute offers”.

However, Aragón considers that real problem is not that Fujimori and Humala are competing for the presidency of the country, as many believe: “The problem is that his has happened in a weak political system. There are many actors here who have an ambivalent relationship with the democratic system”.

Millions of Peruvians refuse to forget the Alberto Fujimori years [1990-2000], where the practice of corruption was institutionalized and human rights were violated. On the other hand, Humala’s support of the “andahuaylazo” —his brother Antauro’s attempted coup against Toledo in January 2005, which ended with four dead policemen— makes many people mistrust the democratic credentials of the candidates.

Also available in Spanish.

Tim Reidy

 

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024