Leftist Castillo faces divided nation as next Peru president

PERU’S Pedro Castillo, a rural union activist from a Marxist party, will take the reins of a deeply divided country after being declared president-elect following weeks of vote recounts, lawsuits and fraud allegations.

The results, proclaimed Monday night by Peruvian electoral authorities, will help to dispel the political uncertainty that has gripped the Andean nation since the June 6 runoff. He’ll take office on July 28.

Castillo, who was virtually unknown six months ago, defeated by a narrow margin right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, a leader of the country’s most powerful political clan. After alleging fraud and demanding the annulment of many votes, Fujimori said earlier on Monday she would accept authorities’ decision even as she called her opponent’s proclamation “illegitimate.”

Speaking right after the decision, Castillo thanked the Peruvian people and called for national unity, sending a special message to his main political adversary.

“i call on Ms. Fujimori to not put up more barriers on this path, let’s not have more obstacles to move this country forward,” he told a crowd of supporters from a balcony in a downtown lima building.

He quickly received congratulations from Mexican President Andres Manuel lopez Obrador and from the secretary general of the Organization of American States, luis Almagro.

A teacher from the highlands with no previous experience of national politics, Castillo, 51, ran on the slogan “No more poor people in a rich country,” meaning that the nation’s vast mineral wealth must benefit ordinary people. He swept the rural and Andean regions of the country, while Fujimori won the capital lima and coastal cities in the north.

He says his focus will be on education and health, making him the face of latin America’s resurgent left and a symbol of growing disenchantment with elites following the ravages of the pandemic.

Investor fears

CASTILLO’S election initially spooked investors, but the nation’s bonds and currency rallied after he appointed mainstream economists as advisers, and pledged to respect the central bank’s autonomy.

Castillo’s chief economic adviser, Pedro Francke, has called for fiscal prudence and inflationtargeting, and is opposed to nationalization of companies. But Marxists from Castillo’s Peru libre party will try to get him to pursue a more radical course.

Castillo won by a narrow margin of 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent, and Fujimori’s party alleged irregularities and tried to cancel votes deemed as fraudulent. The us and the E.u. said the election was clean.

Castillo’s ability to govern is likely to be hampered by his limited support within Congress, which is dominated by the center-right. He will face not only opposition but also the very real threat of impeachment, which was used to oust former President Martin Vizcarra.

The election result, nonetheless, represents one of the most meteoric political journeys in recent history. Castillo rose from being a little-known union organizer just months ago to lead a country of 32 million struggling through one of the worst periods in its history.

Peru has suffered the world’s highest death rate from Covid as well as a deeper economic slump than all the other major economies in the Americas. The nation has also seen exceptional political volatility, with three presidents in little more than a week last year.

Voter disgust

HIS promises to raise corporate taxes, rein in big companies and pump 20 percent of economic output into social welfare struck a chord with the rural poor. But those same policies, and his membership of a Marxist political party, worried investors, who’d been used to Peru being one of the continent’s fastest growing and most reliable economies, even amid bouts of political turmoil.

During the campaign, Castillo criss-crossed the country wearing a broad straw-hat, riding a horse to the polls and dancing with supporters. On April 11, he beat out 17 other candidates to win the firstround election.