Ivan Garcia-Hidalgo
As many of you know, Peru held its presidential elections yesterday in a very democratic fashion and without incident. The results are less than celebratory for many as Hugo Chavez’ handpicked candidate, Ollanta Humala moved forward to a runoff and at the top of the list with an almost 8% point advantage. Along with him, daughter of imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori, Keiko Fujimori will attempt to follow her father’s footsteps and obtain the presidential seat for the next 5 years.
Many folks are asking what happened? Why in a country that is enjoying almost double digit growth for the better of a decade can something like this occur? So in a nutshell here’s the answer. The center and right of center candidates never seem to agree on one candidate or a strategy so they continue to divide their vote. Alejandro Toledo, the former President at one point had poll numbers in the low to mid 30′s, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) the former investment banker and finance minister was struggling to survive at 5%, Luis Castaneda the former Lima Mayor had at one point also been the front runner with numbers in the mid to high 20′s. When the race was over, PPK’s numbers were at 21%, Toledo 15% and Castaneda 10%, if you add them together they are higher than either Humala’s 31% and Fujimori’s 23%.
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