Where Next for Peru?

Today is our last day in Peru after nearly two weeks.  We really like the country as there is lots to see and do and the people are friendly.  However many Peruvians seem worried about the future after the results of the first round of the Peruvian presidential elections were announced shortly before we arrived in the country.  The original five candidates have been whittled down to the final two for the run-off in June. These are Keiko Fujimori, 36 year old daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (born in Peru of Japanese parents) and the former army lieutenant colonel Ollanta Humala. 

There seems general concern among people we have spoken to about the risks to the country presented by both candidates and no one seems to want either to win. Some commentators fear for the future of democracy here itself but one of Keiko and Ollanta has to win. Everywhere, in true Latin American style, one sees the names of the candidates painted on walls in bright colours. 

Peru has made substantial economic progress in recent years but some, especially the rural poor, have been left behind as seems typical in this continent where inequality seems greater than anywhere else. Consequently Ollanta's (probably undeliverable) promises to the poor attracted 31% of the first round vote. However his changing political stance, his closeness to the anti-US Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and his military past (he was part of an attempted coup a few years ago) worry many that Peru might follow it's neighbour Bolivia in the wrong direction. 

On the other hand Keiko (22% in the first round) is closely associated with her father Alberto, who is currently serving a 25 year jail sentence for corruption. Despite her relative youth she has a track record too. When her father sacked her mother as First Lady in 1994 for accusing him publicly of corruption, the then 21 year old Keiko became First Lady and for six years was therefore implicated in his regime, which as well as corruption included the closing of Congress which effectively made her father a dictator. 

Many suspect that Keiko's father is pulling the strings now from prison and that he will be released if she wins.  While born in Peru, he fled to Japan after being deposed, apparently saying that he was Japanese rather than Peruvian, which further damaged his popularity. To add spice to the current contest it was against Fujimori that Ollanta was involved in the attempted coup and he was only pardoned when Fujimori was found guilty of corruption.  

So we have a soap opera of an election, the result of which no one can predict as nearly half the electorate didn't vote for either candidate in the first round. The only certainty is that a lot of Peruvians and most of the international community are going to get a president they don't want with potentially serious implications for the future of the country.