It is the surprise of this first round of the April 11 elections from which Peruvians expected nothing, disgusted by their political system plagued by corruption. Pedro Castillo, 51, representative of the radical left and little known to voters, was credited with barely 3 to 4% of voting intentions a few weeks ago. However, he was the first, Sunday evening, to qualify for the second round with 19% of the vote. It was not until Monday April 12 afternoon that the face of her competitor, populist Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former autocrat Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), who painfully won 13% of the vote, emerges with certainty.
As analysts predicted, the vote – which also renewed the 130 members of Congress – was extremely dispersed among the 18 presidential candidates. Peruvians voted half-heartedly as the country goes through the worst time of the pandemic – an average of 300 deaths per day – and faces an oxygen shortage.
Teacher from the region of Cajamarca (north) and union leader, Pedro Castillo made himself known by the rest of the country during a strike by the teaching staff in 2017. For the election, this free electron is anchored to the Peru Libre party, a left-wing Marxist Leninist party whose leaders claim to represent “deep Peru” defending an anti-neoliberal roadmap. He is at the same time on the left on economic questions – he pleads for more State, the nationalization of mines or oil and wishes for a new Constitution to replace that of 1993 giving primacy to the private sector -, and right on societal issues – it’s anti-abortion or against marriage for all.
“Disenchantment of Peruvians for politics”
“A surprise but not a tidal wave! tempers political scientist Paula Munoz of the University of the Pacific. The fact that no candidate can muster even 20% in the first round speaks volumes about the degree of Peruvians’ disillusionment with politics ”. Especially since more than 17% of the voters slipped a blank or null ballot in the ballot box like Cristian, met in front of a polling station of a working-class district of Lima, who preferred to vote null vis-a-vis the “Scourge of policies” accused of “Steal money from Peruvians”.
The “all rotten” flourishes here, when all the former presidents elected since 2001 are prosecuted – under investigation in the case of bribes paid by the Brazilian company Odebrecht to Latin leaders – Americans – and that most have served in preventive prison (ex-president Alan Garcia committed suicide before his arrest in 2019).
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