Peru elects president, without favorites and in deadliest week of pandemic

Peruvians began voting this Sunday to elect a new president in the most uncertain elections in their history, with 18 candidates and no favorites, and after a week with a record number of deaths in the country as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Without strong political parties and in a nation where the candidate counts more than ideology, there are 10 candidates from the right or center-right, four from the left, three nationalists and one from the center. None exceeds 10% of voting intention, which predicts a definition in the second round, on June 6.

Until the end of the campaign, Peruvians showed some apathy towards this election and 28% did not know who to vote for.

The seven candidates with options to get to the poll are former lawmaker Yonhy Lescano (center right), anthropologist Verónika Mendoza (left), economist Hernando de Soto (right), Keiko Fujimori (populist right, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori), former footballer George Forsyth (center right), teacher and trade unionist Pedro Castillo (radical left) and businessman Rafael López Aliaga ( far right).

In elections The congress will also be renewed unicameral of 130 members and the polls predict a new atomization in the new Parliament.

The new president is due to take office on July 28, the day Peru commemorates the bicentenary of its independence, with the challenge of overcoming the health emergency, economic recession and political crisis in a nation of 33 million people.

Polling centers opened at 7 a.m. local time and will operate for 12 hours. four more than usual, to receive the votes of 25 million Peruvians, who have seen four presidents pass since 2018.

The national electoral office (ONPE) set up 11,402 polling centers, three times more than normal, to avoid crowds in the middle of the second wave of the pandemic.

Despite the fear of contagion, the ONPE predicted a participation of “nine Peruvians in ten” in the elections, although the country knows the deadliest week in 13 months of pandemic, with an average of 9,667 cases per day and a record 384 dead on Saturday.

In all, Peru accumulates 54,669 deaths from Covid-19 and 1.6 million cases. Reflecting the fragile health situation, six candidates contracted a coronavirus, including three during the last week of the campaign: George Forsyth, José Vega and Marco Arana.

Voting in Peru is obligatory and those who do not pay face fines.

With information from AFP