PERU: ALAN GARCIA REGAINS PRESIDENCY, DEFEATS OLLANTA HUMALA.
In Peru's second-round presidential election on June 4, former President Alan Garcia Perez (1985-1990) won a new five-year term that begins July 28. The runoff pitted Garcia of the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA) against retired Army Col. Ollanta Humala Tasso of the Union por el Peru (UPP). The two were the winners of the first round of voting April 9 (see NotiSur, 2006-05-05).
Garcia wins in Lima, loses rural areas
Humala, facing an insurmountable lead by Garcia, conceded before Monday morning, June 5. He pointed out, however, that he had won in a majority of the country's regions.
The size of Garcia's lead declined as the final tallying was completed from June 5-13. By the end of ballot counting, Garcia's lead was fewer than 700,000 votes, 5.25% of the valid votes, a drop from the 10-point lead that he had when Humala conceded defeat with three-quarters of the vote counted.
The final count gave Garcia 6,965,017 votes and Humala 6,270,080, a difference of 694,937. Almost 16.5 million Peruvians were able to vote and required by law to do so, but only 14,468,049 votes were cast, of which 157,863 were blank and 1,075,089 were nullified, leaving 13,235,097 valid votes. The count was completed June 13, less than 2 weeks after the balloting, and the margin between the two candidates was wide enough that there was much less dispute, delay, and suspense than in the first round, when the paper-thin margin between Lourdes Flores and Garcia delayed solid results for weeks.
Voters from the highlands and less-populated areas outside Lima generally rejected Garcia, but Lima, home to about half of Peru's people, handed victory to Garcia by giving him a broad lead there. Polls taken before the election had generally predicted Humala's loss, though some showed him very close to Garcia, while most ranged from eight to 16 points in Garcia's favor.
Many Peruvians felt they had no good choice in the race, according to several analyses. Garcia's presidency is not fondly remembered, while Humala's extremism alienated him from many voters. "In economic terms, [Garcia's] government was the worst ever in Peruvian history," said Lima economist Fritz du Bois. "He has become by default the candidate of the business community, the markets, and the middle classes. Ollanta Humala's message was so aggressive and hostile to the private sector and hostile in general to the middle class here that they turned to Garcia."
In the first round, the discipline of...
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