An ultra-conservative millionaire who admits that he has sought himself daily to suppress sexual desire is just one of a variety of candidates with a low turnout who all want the chance to become the next president of Peru.
Rafael López Aliaga is technically connected to five other contenders in an unpredictable match to make a run-off vote in June, including a former goalkeeper, a socialist trained by the Sorbonne and the daughter of former country leader Alberto Fujimori, who is in jail.
Sunday’s vote will take place during a second wave of Covid-19, which set a new record for daily deaths this week as the highly contagious Brazilian variant takes hold. Neighboring Chile has postponed a vote for the same day’s assembly following an increase in business.
Peruvian joke they have long been accustomed to for the minor – or the lesser evil – but Hernán Chaparro, a political analyst, said ‘the concept has been passed’.
“There’s not even a bad one – the people who vote do not want any of them!” he said.
About 28% of Peruvians would not choose one of the candidates, according to a poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies. Other polls suggest that the handling of the coronavirus pandemic by three different presidents – all in the midst of a spate of political crises – has exacerbated voter disillusionment.
“The pandemic has left a state with holes in it and citizens, who reject politicians, are extremely frustrated and not very interested in the election,” said Fernando Tuesta, a professor of political science at Lima’s Pontifical Catholic University.
“Add to that most candidates in memory who do not unleash passion and show more weaknesses than strengths.”
López Aliaga, a financier and railway magnate, has shown comparisons with far-right figures such as Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro (whom he rejects) and Donald Trump.
A member of the ultra-conservative Catholic group Opus Dei, López Aliaga, opposed same-sex marriage and vowed to refuse abortion to minor rape victims, which has raised concerns among human rights activists who are also concerned about the use of conspiracy theories , disinformation and hate speech against opponents and journalists.
López Aliaga’s candidate may have robbed Keiko Fujimori’s daughter, but Alberto Fujimori’s daughter appeared with a slight lead over the other five candidates, according to two final polls published on Thursday.
Fujimori, the runner-up in the 2011 and 2016 presidential elections, herself has faced corruption allegations and spent months behind bars in custody before the trial, although she is now under house arrest due to the pandemic. Her father ruled Peru in the 1990s and was convicted of death row killings and rampant corruption.
Fighting many of the same voters is Hernando De Soto (79), a radical free-market economist who got a Covid-19 jab in the US while asking to privatize Peru’s vaccination program. Older Peruvians remember him as an important adviser to the strongman Fujimori when he disbanded Congress and in 1992 sent troops to the streets.
On the other end of the political spectrum, Pedro Castillo, a teacher of the radical left, surprised opponents by his rapid rise in the polls to a chance to win a place in the run-off.
He is vying with center-left Yonhy Lescano, 62, who is part of the polluted Acción Popular party, but is vehemently opposed to his role in leading the congress that ousted former leader Martin Vizcarra in November. which caused major pro-democracy protests.
For younger voters, the options are largely discouraging.
“It’s really complicated because a lot of the candidates have a very bad reputation,” nurse Amiel Eduardo, 20, told the Guardian.
Some young voters see left-wing Verónika Mendoza, 40, as one of the more enlightened candidates in a conservative field – and one of very few to support same-sex abortions and same-sex marriage. But the socialist economic policy of the second candidate worries some voters and although she criticized the authoritarian government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, some in her party continue to defend it.
Finally, George Forsyth, 38, a former goalkeeper of the Alianza Lima football club, also served as mayor of La Victoria, a crime-ridden district of the capital, for two years before resigning to join the presidential race. .
Voting is mandatory in Peru, but the election is likely to be lower than previous elections due to the Covid-19 pandemic, especially among older voters.
“Peruvians are so tired of corruption that they basically believe in no one,” said Natalia Sobrevilla, a Peruvian historian who teaches at the University of Kent. ‘Because everyone votes so low and the differences are [in votes] is so small that any change can really change the result, ”she said.
Peruvian confidence in their elected representatives is at a low record after years of influence manipulation and a series of overthrown presidents. The Odebrecht scandal – which found that a Brazilian construction company had paid massive bribes in Latin America – led to the imprisonment of three former Peruvian presidents, and the death of another, Alan García, who fatally shot himself in instead of arrested in 2019.
“In the past, we had a fragile democracy in Peru,” Chaparro said. “But now it’s in intensive care.”