Here Comes the New Boss...?

THERE’S NO SUGARCOATING THE FACT THAT PERU IS POLITICALLY BLIGHTED BY A LAMENTABLE LEGACY OF PRESIDENTIAL CORRUPTION AND IRREGULARITY THAT HAS SEEN FORMER INCUMBENTS INVESTIGATED, ARRESTED, AND IMPRISONED. CHANGE MUST, SURELY, BE DUE.

PERU HAS NOW HAD MULTIPLE PRESIDENTS in under three years. Perhaps its small wonder that an Ipsos Peru poll conducted in January 2021 indicates that 25% of Peruvians either refuse to endorse any of the myriad candidates or remain undecided.

A NEW DEPARTURE, OR MORE OF THE SAME? Peruvians go to the polls again on April 11, 2021, aware that all presidents since 1985 have been prosecuted after leaving office. The dilemma is that many vote on a best-of-the-worst basis, immured to poor political pedigree, or else favor a would-be strong arm, with the nation’s 20-year civil war that claimed around 70,000 lives still fresh in the national memory. That is 50,000 more deaths than in the war of independence two centuries ago, being celebrated shortly after the elections.

In the bicentennial year, voices from state and civil society alike have urged for a fresh era to extricate Peru from its dark political legacy. Critics seeking business as usual after each election cycle claim that a tenable presidential position without the temptation and means for irregularity requires a legislative blitz on the current laws enabling abuse of power by Congress and legislators. Back in September, erstwhile president Martín Vizcarra—who had assumed office following the resignation of his predecessor Pedro Pablo Kuczynski over two years earlier—told the Plenary Meeting of the 75th UN General Assembly that Peru was

“waging an all-out war against the scourge of corruption, with a series of national reforms to transform institutions that need change.” Yet, Vizcarra was himself outed by Congress for “permanent moral incapacity” over corruption allegations, and his replacement Manuel Merino held the interim presidency for a mere five days. No country merits such political fluctuation, and Francisco Sagasti (Purple party), the fourth Peruvian president in under five years, assumed office on November 17 and now takes the nation up to the polls. He immediately called for a “nation of equals.”

SELECTED RUNNERS

Peruvians will select their next president from a record 22 candidates, beating the previous high figure of 20 who ran in 2006. In a two-round process, if no candidate garners at least 50% plus one vote in round one on April 11, the two leading candidates fight it out in a June runoff on a date yet to be set.

With an early attack staged three months prior to the elections, former national goalkeeper George Forsyth led with 17% support according to a January Ipsos Peru poll. He pledges not to drop the ball on his anti-corruption ticket if victorious. The closest rival candidate on his heels, Keiko Fujimori, was on 8% of the poll. Daughter of imprisoned erstwhile President Alberto Fujimori and a veteran candidate, she’s hoping to make it thirdtime lucky this time round. Yet, given her support level many Peruvians are clearly asking, lucky for whom? Keiko Fujimori is all but openly running on the time-to-free-my-father ticket. And, despite herself having long being under investigation, this previously failed candidate (2011 and 2016) hopes to disprove the once-bitten-twice-shy philosophy this year. She will be hoping for support from those whose sole concern during her father’s tenure was his market-friendly demeanor. She has the highest negative ratings.

Julio Guzmán, a former secretary-general of the presidential cabinet, ran for president unsuccessfully in 2016, after which he launched the Purple Party. While viewed a centrist, Guzmán has bold pledges that include revisiting the constitution via

referendum and economic diversification.

Verónika Mendoza is a former congresswoman of the New Peru party. While many will welcome her “we need to get rid of the entire traditional political class” rhetoric, her leftist leanings could alienate voters preeminently sensitive to the bloody cost of the civil war. She also pledges reforms in tax, healthcare, and the environment and a “second agrarian reform.”

Squarely on the anti-corruption ticket is straight-talking congressman and former interior minister Daniel Urresti of the Obama-sounding We Can Peru party. “As long as criminals are on the street, you will continue to see me,” this son of Lima has claimed.

SOUR TASTE OF ODEBRECHT

The integrity of Peru’s political system took a beating in 2016 as the world witnessed the massive scandal surrounding Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, which confessed to funneling money to Peru’s 2011 presidential elections. The web of bribery charges spanned Kuczynski and Keiko Fujimori, among a vast number of other lawmakers. The refusal of multiple tarnished figures to step away from power is damning. And yet this year’s elections will show whether people have merely voted for the perceived least worst or whether the bicentennial year can catch a glimmer of true political blue sky through the murk.