Peruvian electorate polarized in wake of campaign shakedown.
| Autor | Jana, Elsa Chanduvi |
Less than a month from Peru's April 10 presidential and congressional elections, the campaign season is overshadowed by the exclusion of two presidential candidates, the voluntary withdrawal of others, marked polarization, and the questioning of the electoral judicial panels (NotiSur, Jan. 29, 2016).
On March 8, the Jurado Nacional Electoral (JNE) excluded Cesar Acuna, presidential candidate for the Alianza Para el Progreso (APP), and Julio Guzman, candidate for the Todos por el Peru party (TPP). The decision to remove Acuna was unanimous, based on his violation of the Ley de Organizaciones Politicas, (the law regulating political organizations) when he gave 10,000 soles (US$3,003) to merchants in the city of Chosica, Lima province, and 5,000 soles (US$1,501) to a youth with disabilities during a campaign event in the northwestern department of Piura.
At the end of 2015, Congress modified the 2003 that prohibited political organizations from giving, promising or offering money or other financial gifts during elections, except for things that are considered electoral propaganda valued at less than 20 soles (US$6).
Acuna, who had been in third place in January with 13% of voting preferences, suffered a seven-point drop in February after he was accused of plagiarism--using texts by other authors and reports from international organizations--in his doctoral thesis for Spain's Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Another accusation followed in connection with his master's thesis, presented to the Universidad de Lima, and yet another of having copied a complete book about education that the Universidad Cesar Vallejo published under his name. From this moment forward, all his titles, doctorates, and master's degrees were put into question.
'It's a copy'
In respect to the accusations about plagiarism in his doctoral thesis, Acuna said that he had only failed to insert footnotes. About his master's thesis, he said, "That was 25 years ago, when I did not know I was going to be a presidential candidate." Regarding the education book, Acuna's answer, which prompted the most memes in social media, was, "It's not plagiarism, it's a copy."
On Feb. 24, Congressman Humberto Lay, of the Restauracion Nacional party, a candidate for second vice president on the Acuna slate and to the Congress for Lima, presented his resignation to the JNE "for strictly personal reasons."
On March 2, Anel Townsend of the APP withdrew her candidacy for a congressional seat...
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