Peru Election Update

Latin America Correspondent updates on Peru's election chaos and current results. 

Transcript

Hi everyone, welcome back, and in what is a staggering development, Peru’s election authority has said that it will not not be finalizing results of the first round of the election - presidential and legislative - until mid-May! Of course the importance is as regards which two candidates for the presidency go through to the run-off on 7th June, but also crucially what the make up of Peru’s new bi-camaral legislative system will be, and if it is fit for purpose, given the political chaos and revolving door of presidents which has plagued the country for the last decade. 

As we already knew, and as things stand, right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori leads with 17 percent, and has an unassailable lead with which she will advance to the second round. It’s second place that is in question, though, with left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez on 12 percent, and ultra-conservative Rafael Lopez Aliaga close behind on 11.9 percent.

Sanchez surged late, and was not expected to make the second round, but his numbers are a reminder of the presence of the left and the support for previous president, now imprisoned, of Pedro Castillo, who Roberto Sanchez is a close ally of, regularly wearing a highly distinct wide-brimmed sombrero gifted to him by Castillo, and to some extent his campaign is based - as well as standard left-wing principles of social and economic justice - on the idea that Castillo was imprisoned on false principles and political attacks. Sanchez has promised a pardon for Castillo, should he be elected.

Aliaga, on the other hand, is the ex mayor of Lima and the most right-wing candidate in the field, widely seen as being the most akin to Donald Trump, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele etc. When in the last episode we mentioned the ‘exportable’ nature of Bukele’s policies, it is the likes of Aliaga who are disciples to this. Aliaga is marginally behind Sanchez and it is he who has been most vocally damning of the electoral process - and its failures - in this poll, alleging  fraud without presenting evidence and calling for the election to be annulled. He urged supporters of his Popular Renewal Party to protest today, Sunday 19th April.

Given the date, that means that we are a full month away from when the electoral council say final results will be released. A reminder too that elections and election results in Latin America tend to be sharp, brief, efficient affairs. In Peru of course there have been challenges to results before, but nothing like the logistical chaos which has occurred in the last week.

Who out of Sanchez and Aliaga goes forward to the second round of the election will also have serious implications for the political strategies involved in the vote, given that if Aliaga is Fujimori’s opponent, then she will be attacked on her right flank, and if it is Sanchez who goes through, then the center will be up for grabs. Additionally, it is Sanchez who will most attack Fujimori on her father - Alberto Fujimori’s - dictatorship, and her support of this. If Sanchez is the challenger, it will also be interesting to see if Aliaga and his vote will be brought into the Fujimori tent, under a political agreement, or if Aliaga will remain on the outside, agitating about his perceived election fraud of the first round, potentially even encouraging his base to boycott the second round.