Today millions of Peruvians voted in compulsory runoff elections to decide their next president. Neither of the choices would be loved by dailykos, but there is an obvious choice.
The favorite going in was Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the right wing dictator Alberto Fujimori who is currently serving jail time for human rights abuses (including murdering dissidents with death squads and sterilizing indigenous women without consent) and embezzling millions of soles in public funds, after having seized full control of the government by deposing congress in the early 1990’s. But because he was effective at pushing terrorist groups like Shining Path and MRTA back into the jungle and tamping down on the inflation of the 80’s and 90’s, he is still popular among many Peruvians. Keiko has largely campaigned as her father’s successor. She is promising law-and-order conservatism, including a crackdown akin to what her father did in the 90’s. This is appealing to many Peruvians, because crime has been on the rise and is one of the chief concerns in this election. She surrounds herself with corrupt fundraisers and advisors, who have laundered money to put it into her campaign. Further, she has skipped out on her duties in congress, claiming that her more than 500-day absence from legislative sessions was a result of “maternity leave”.
Her opponent Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) is a 77-year-old center-right economist who previously worked for the IMF, World Bank, and central bank. Decades ago, when he was a young man, he was exiled from the country after a coup by left-wing dictator Velasco, because he had been working as a mid-level bureaucrat for the previous corrupt right-wing government of Belaunde. (You may be noticing a pattern here - corruption is a recurring theme in Peruvian politics.) PPK is an intelligent academic, a technocrat reformist who is socially moderate and believes in alleviating crime by increasing resources to anti-poverty programs and reforming the prison system to focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment. He is right of center and supports deregulation and low taxes, but he does not support returning to the crackdowns of the 1990’s.
My wife and I have been desperately hoping PPK wins, because while we would have preferred a center-left candidate to get into the runoff election, we at least believe in PPK’s competence and respect for the Peruvian institutions of government. This is in sharp contrast to Keiko, who represents a threat to Peruvian democracy. We are scared for the future of Peru and for our family members living there if Keiko wins.
Right now, from exit polling and initial results, projections are that PPK is likely to win by two percent, but it is still too close and too early to call so it could still go either way. For those who are so inclined, please join me in praying that the results hold up and PPK becomes the next president.
