Peru’s fourth consecutive democratic election has been marred somewhat by a series of events that have placed the Peruvian Electoral Commission at center stage.

Last week’s presidential election followed a familiar path, once again going to a second round which is set to take place in the first week of June.

But prior to the electorate’s trip to the ballot box, two candidates vying to make it to the presidential runoff were barred from participation.

Long-time poll leader Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of former president Alberto, comfortably made her way to the second round with 40 percent of the votes.

The battle for second place was much tighter but won by 77 year-old Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, known as “PPK”, with 21 percent support. Read more “Peru Votes for Continuity Amid Growing Discontent”

Peru’s presidential election in April will come at a time when voters across Latin America are expressing a desire for change.

In November, for the first time since democracy was reintroduced there, a right-wing candidate, Mauricio Macri, was elected president in Argentina. December saw the Venezuelan Socialist Party lose its majority in the National Assembly after sixteen years in power. Dilma Roussef, Brazil’s president and leader of the left-wing Workers’ Party, is under threat of impeachment with approval ratings at an all-time low.

Voters in Peru are no less keen on a break even though their president, Ollanta Humala, has turned out to be far less radical in his populism than his 2011 campaign rhetoric and media coverage may have led them to believe.

Instead, his presidency has been characterized by vacillation, both in terms of policy and personnel — but with no great departure from the liberal economic path trodden by Humala’s predecessors. Read more “Peruvian Voters May Not Get Change They Want”

A reluctance to devalue the sol, a collapse in world commodity prices and protests at the deregulation of extractive industries promise an uncomfortable year for Peru’s president, Ollanta Humala, before the election in 2016.

After more than decade as one the highest-growing economies in the world, Peru’s expansion weakened last year. Falling commodity prices, particularly a 25 percent price reduction in copper in the last six months, have hit Peru hard.

The Central Reserve Bank’s desire to proceed with “business as usual,” forecasting growth for 2015 between 4.5 and 5 percent, can only exacerbate Peru’s predicament. Read more “Peru’s Government Struggles to Confront Economic Reality”

The next Peruvian presidential election will take place in less than two years. In many ways this signifies the country’s progress, as it will be the first time in Peru’s history that a fourth consecutive democratic election is held.

As things stand, it is Keiko Fujimori of the conservative Fuerza Popular who has captured the public’s attention. Recent polls put her way ahead of the pack with a 32 percent approval rating. The liberal Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is lagging behind with 11.6 percent.

Fujimori is a familiar name in Peru. It is one that divides public opinion and gave birth to a political ideology, Fujimorism. This all results from the often controversial and never dull presidency of Keiko’s father, Alberto.

His supporters say that his is a legacy of having quelled the threat of Maoist insurgents and of rebuilding the economy. His “Fujishock” free-market reforms started a cycle of economic prosperity that is only now beginning to slow down.

Critics say Fujimori’s means of achieving this were not justified by the results. They believe he has been rightfully incarcerated for gross human rights abuses (when tackling the terrorist threat), for his unlawful presidential coup in 1992, for mass corruption through embezzlement of state funds (to the tune of $15 million) and for browbeating political opposition through his control of the media — all undertaken by his national intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos. Read more “Keiko in Father’s Footsteps: Peru’s Next President?”

Peru’s former minister for women’s affairs and social development, Ana Jara Velasquez, was sworn in as President Ollanta Humala’s sixth prime minister last month. But only on Wednesday, by one vote, did her appointment receive congressional ratification.

When asked about his fifth prime ministerial resignation in three years, President Humala, never a man for hyperbole, said “ministerial postings always come with a limited lifespan.”

The role of the prime minister in Peru is to be a spokesperson for the government, to manage the cabinet and act as a shield for the president. In this final function, it would appear that many have fallen on their own sword. Read more “As Growth Slows, Humala Resorts to Populist Tactics”

Last month, the Lima Chamber of Commerce announced that annual economic growth needed to remain at 5.5 percent if Peru’s poverty reduction is to continue as anticipated. That may well be attainable though the price could be environmental degradation and social unrest.

The Latin American country has enjoyed something of an economic miracle since the turn of the century. Once the major threat of the Shining Path Maoist insurgency had subsided, Peru experienced steady and then exponential growth. Over the past decade, it has become one of the world’s fastest growing economies.

This has been a rare success story for Peru which has more commonly been associated with, and plagued by, political corruption and disruption. Read more “Peru’s Mining Economy Booming But at What Cost?”