By Andrew Kolasinski

Peru, a nation of 25 million people and more than 16 million voters, is a vigorous democracy. Results of the general election of April 10, 2011 were too close to name Peru’s 94th President.

Ten candidates were on the ballot, running for president. The majority of votes were evenly split between right leaning Keiko Fujimori (daughter of disgraced and imprisoned former president), and left leaning Ollanta Humala.

In Peru the winner must receive more than half of all the votes. A second draft was called for June 5.

These are signs of a mature and considered democratic system. So are the slick television, print and internet advertising campaigns that the candidates and their parties hope will give them the winning edge. But in the countryside that type of campaigning doesn’t do to the trick. Peru is still a developing nation despite economic and technological advances and improved literacy and education.

Beyond the cities, in Peru’s rural isolation there are still communities where internet access, where television signals, and even the written word do not reach the people. In the countryside the election tactics of the developing world still play a key role. With about 12 per cent of Peru’s population officially illiterate, politicians need to reach these voters creatively.

Tactics like knocking door to door to speak to the people are important strategies in the small towns. To glad-hand with voters along the Amazon’s backwater villages some candidates travel by boat. Other election methods include posting handbills to announce a public speech, then addressing the voters using old-fashioned, battery powered megaphones, or driving a car around and around with an amplified speaker system, repeating the election slogans. Most memorably and lingering are the artful painted political message found on any available blank wall. These poster walls resemble urban graffiti, until you decipher the messages.

Designing simple to draw and paint, and easy to understand icons, each party claims as much space as possible on brick and concrete walls, on fences, and construction barriers. Employing local talent to cover any flat visible space the Peru’s walls become a kaleidoscope of colorful ideological expressions.

Each campaign is tied to a slogan which in turn is translated into a graphic. One candidate promised to abolish poverty and feed people; his icon was a spoon. Another party promised to create jobs for everyone; their icon was a shovel. Another would help Peru’s farmers; their icon showed a plow and seedling. Then there was the party to would ban corruption; a slogan of Manos Limpias (clean hands) translated visually into a simple depiction of a pair of white hands. A depiction of a pencil marking an X beside the name and the caption, Marca Asi shows readers and non-readers alike what they must do to elect non-corrupt candidates.
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