Peru faces a polarizing presidential run-off vote, in which a hard-line leftist teacher – caught in a wave of popular discontent over the coronavirus and a cratering economy – is the far-right heir to one of the country’s most enduring and controversial dynasties will defy.
Pedro Castillo, a veteran leader for the teachers’ union, won Sunday’s votes in the first round with 18.47% and counted 84% of the official votes. In second place, Keiko Fujimori – the daughter of the imprisoned captive leader, Alberto Fujimori – took 13.12% under the microscope, followed by two more far-right candidates.
Castillo – who was largely unknown before polling day – stunned the country when he won votes in the poorer regions of the country and won in 16 of Peru’s 24 regions, and by more than 50% in two of the poorest Andes. state.
“The blindfold has just been removed from the Peruvian people,” he said, cheering supporters from a balcony in his hometown of Tacabamba in the highlands of the Cajamarca region.
‘We are often told that only political scientists, constitutionalists, learned politicians, those with a high degree can govern a country. They had enough time, “he said, cheering as people danced in the streets.
Castillo became a prominent figure during an education strike over pay in 2017, and in October he announced that he would run for president for the left-wing Perú Libre party, after fighting at grassroots level.
But in pre-election polls, he did not manage to make it into the list of top six candidates until days before the vote. He registered barely 3% in a poll taken in mid-March.
Adriana Urrutia, a political scientist who heads the pro-democracy organization Transparencia, said: ‘His anti-system discourse has managed to dispel all the dissatisfaction, anger and concern of the voters expressed by the pandemic,.
“In Peru, inequality translates political options. A large part of the population has many unguarded demands in places that the state does not reach and that do not represent the traditional political class. ”
Castillo has been embroiled in public outrage over widespread political corruption and dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Peru has one of the worst mortality rates in the world in Covid-19, with an exorbitant death rate nearly three times the official figure of nearly 55,000 deaths.
Keiko Fujimori, like her father a very divisive figure, promised an ‘iron fist’ approach to crime and corruption. She herself is being investigated for money laundering, which she denies, and spent months before jail time in custody. Her father ruled Peru in the 1990s and was convicted of death row killings and rampant corruption.
The prospect of a polarized race does not bode well for Peru’s battered economy amid rising unemployment and poverty, said Fiona Mackie, regional director at the Economist Intelligence Unit for Latin America and the Caribbean.
“It is clear that the political environment in Peru, which has been very unstable for years, will deteriorate,” she said.