Silas Quinn

To an outsider, the 2011 Peruvian presidential elections seemed a bit like a circus gone awry. Up and down the country from north to south, every building, wall, lamppost from coast to coast was covered with the names of the candidates. It will probably take until the 2016 elections to repaint all the buildings.

Giant stuffed hamsters, (the mascot PPKuy for Pedro Pablo Kuczynski) dance though the streets. Accusations of affairs and clandestine political partnerships, and name calling runs rampant through the media. One congressional hopeful even let leak nude videos of herself on the Internet. In Lima, the streets and highways are littered with signs, giant banners, and 30 foot tall cardboard cutouts of candidates.

The elections were held on April 10^th. According to the constitution, to win a candidate must achieve an absolute majority. In the event that a candidate does not win 50 per cent of the votes in the preliminary round, a run-off round is held. And because every registered Peruvian citizen is required by law to vote, the candidates have their work cut out for them fighting for the vote of the working, lower income majority. For one brief moment every five years, poor Peruvians have an influence on the powers and people that govern their country.

It is probably for that reason that the nationalist Ollanta Humala, with his fierce fire-brand politics and close association with Latin America’s left wing leaders, ended up coming first – although not with an absolute majority.

There were five major candidates looking to replace the current president Alan Garcia, as well as 130 congressional spots that are up for grabs. Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Keiko Fujimori, and Luis “Lucho” Castañeda.

The results themselves became a close-run contest between Humala, Keiko and Kuczynski. Toledo’s poor showing was the main surprise of the day, and many moderate centrists now blame him for splitting the vote away from Kuczynski and allowing the more radical Humala and Keiko take first and second place.

The run-off vote, now scheduled for June 5^th and will present a showdown between left wing Ollanta and the more conservative, law & order focused Keiko. For many metropolitan Peruvians who have become accustomed to the pro-market, steady growth policies of the Garcia administration and who are now facing uncertain times.

Meanwhile, in the poor and deprived communities of rural Peru, most people will be celebrating. These are the heartlands for radical candidates, where the people have historically taken the brunt of civil unrest and terrorism, state-sponsored violence, stagnating living standards and rising prices. Whether or not their lots will change with the radical new government that has become inevitable, only time will tell.