Peru: ex-football star leads polls ahead of election

A 38-year-old ex-archer is leading the race to become Peru’s next president, according to a poll of voters’ intentions ahead of the April vote.

George Forsyth, who resigned last month as mayor of the Lima district to run for president, had 16% support in an Ipsos Peru survey released Thursday. He has conducted the polls in recent months in a field filled with 23 candidates.

Julio Guzman, who was disqualified from the 2016 presidential race, had 7% support in the survey. Veronika mendoza, a former left-wing lawmaker from Cuzco, and Daniel Urresti, former Minister of the Interior, they had 6% each, according to Ipsos. The double presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori had 5%.

The South American country will hold a general election on April 11, after a period of unprecedented political turmoil following the surprise impeachment of the president Martin vizcarra by Congress last week and the resignation of his successor six days later. The country’s new interim president, Francisco Sagasti, is a member of the Purple Party of Guzmán.