Peru: a presidential election without a favorite
A supporter of the presidential candidate campaigns for the candidate in the neighborhood of Villa El Salvador on the outskirts of Lima, Peru on March 29, 2021. AP - Martin Mejia
Text by: Marie Normand Follow
6 mins
Some 25 million Peruvians are called to appoint a new president and to renew the Congress on Sunday April 11.
The country is one of the hardest hit by the pandemic.
It is also very unstable politically and these elections should not change anything.
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The latest polls show only one big favorite: the blank or no vote.
It is around 20-25%.
A few days before the poll, Peruvians
do not yet know who to vote for,
which is quite usual.
What is less is that none of the 18 presidential candidates are standing out for the moment.
“
The latest Ipsos Peru survey shows that three candidates exceed 10%, but with the margin of error, they could very well be below 10%.
There is not much difference between the candidates and none largely dominates the voting intentions
”, notes Arthur Morenas, researcher in Political Sciences associated with the French Institute of Andean Studies (IFEA) and the Institute. of the Americas.
Corruption and pandemic
This low enthusiasm can first be explained by the multiple corruption scandals, in particular the Odebrecht affair, which have affected the country in recent years and undermined the confidence of Peruvians.
"The
entire political class, from right to left, has received bribes
," recalls Alberto Vergara, professor in the Department of Social Sciences and Political Sciences at the University of the Pacific, in Lima.
All former presidents are being prosecuted or are in jail.
Six of the presidential candidates and 134 candidates for Congress, which will be fully renewed on Sunday April 11, are also facing justice for alleged corruption, according to the daily
La Republica.
For Arthur Morenas, corruption remains a major concern for voters, even in the midst of a pandemic.
“
The issue of managing the pandemic is intimately linked to the issue of corruption.
There was a
scandal linked to the vaccination
of several senior officials, including former President Martin Vizcarra and his Minister of Health
, he recalls.
For many Peruvians, if the health crisis remains, it is because there are privileges, privileges, which mean that the population as a whole does not have access to the health network as it should
”.
Election maintained despite death records linked to Covid-19
Peru is currently facing
a second wave of Covid-19
, with death records recorded in recent days.
Four presidential candidates were infected during the campaign and one of them had to be hospitalized.
Unlike neighboring Chile, the elections were not postponed.
Time slots are reserved for vulnerable people, three times more polling stations than in 2016 are open to promote distance, with temperature measurement at the entrance.
“
The pandemic has affected the campaign.
There is unease, detachment and apathy in the country which turns into a lack of confidence in politicians and their ability to manage the health crisis
, ”notes Alberto Vergara.
In Peru, voting is compulsory, but abstention could be notable this year.
"A
lot of people are not going to move,
thinks Alberto Vergara,
in particular among the well-to-do classes who can afford to say: '
I will not vote and I pay the fine accordingly'
"
.
It is difficult to know which candidate will take advantage of this abstention.
“
There has been a fairly significant politicization of health issues
, notes Arthur Morenas for his part.
The right is arguing, for example, so that private companies can buy vaccines and vaccinate their employees.
On the contrary, the left says that this would create a lucrative market for vaccines, which we have already seen during the year of the pandemic through PCR tests or access to beds in private clinics
”.
Impeachment and dissolution: two "constitutional weapons" now commonly used
Legislative elections are also being played on Sunday.
The latest polls point to a Congress that is even more fragmented than it is today and that will not help resolve the deep political crisis Peru is currently going through.
Two Congresses and four presidents have followed one another since the last elections in 2016. The two institutions are engaged in a standoff, a struggle for power, with impeachment and dissolution.
“
This makes the country ungovernable,
regrets Alberto Vergara.
In 2016, a right-wing president, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, was elected and another right-wing party - that of Keiko Fujimori - obtained a majority in Congress.
Some thought they could rule together, but
they killed each other
, unheard
of in 50 years.
Since then, it has been established that the removal of the president and the dissolution of Congress are part of the political game.
These two constitutional atomic buttons have become normal weapons and it is very dangerous ”.
“
At the worst hours of the pandemic, seeing the politicians capable of anything to take power, revealed their irresponsibility.
It also explains why Peruvians no longer have confidence, ”he
adds.
In the columns of
El Comercio
, Alberto Vergara proposes that the presidential candidates who will arrive in the second round sign a "
non-aggression pact
:
I am not dissolving Parliament and in return you do not try to dismiss me
".
The only way, he believes, to make the country governable again.
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