Peru Election 2006

The “Living in Peru” weblog is providing good coverage of the regional and municipal elections.

Peru’s Nationalistic Party: Garcia is the loser in regional and municipal elections
Living in Peru
November 20, 2006
(LIP-wb) — Carlos Tapia, spokesman of Peru’s “Partido Nacionalista Peruana” (PNP) led by ex-presidential candidate Ollanta Humala, said they were not defeated in yesterday’s regional and municipal elections and added that President Alan Garcia’s APRA party is “the great loser”.
Tapia emphasized that just after nine months of existence the Nationalistic Party has reached an important representation on a provincial and regional level, after winning more than hundred mayorships and twenty provincial races.
“Nationwide we have won between 120 to 150 electoral races for local mayors and we are going to win between 15 to 17 provinces. Certainly this doesn’t meet all our expectations, but we have an important national representation at a provincial and municipal level”, he said last night, although official results are not yet known.
In declarations to the Andina news agency, Tapia commented these elections demonstrate that all of Peru’s traditional parties have not managed to represent the population outside the capital of Lima.
“The great loser is the APRA, a party that exists for 80 years. It is unfair to compare us with a party governing the country and was governing twelve Peruvian regions until yesterday. Losing the elections in the city of Trujillo, the party’s birthplace, is a moral defeat for the Apra and has serious repercussions”, he referred.
Tapia pointed out that none of the established political parties can say they “have won”, because overall 55 percent of the votes went to independent groups or regional political movements.
“We think that we have advanced as a new political force”, he concluded.
Meanwhile, President Alan Garcia congratulated the re-elected mayor of Lima, Luis Castaneda Lossio, but prefers to stay neutral as for the rest of the results throughout the country.
In a first statement, Lourdes Flores Nano considered the results have opened “a wonderful stage for her party’s development” and emphasized the virtual triumphs of Unidad Nacional in Ica and Piura.
“I believe this election demonstrates that there is progress in urban Peru. There is a popular expectation of change which, in some places, is being pronounced in our favor”, she added.
She stressed that the endorsement given to Lima’s mayor Luis Castaneda Lossio is a well deserved recognition of wonderful municipal administration and now they must assume the commitment to the voters.
When being asked about the APRA’s defeat in Trujillo, she said when she was visiting the city last Tuesday she felt the winds of change. “Truijillo is evidence of a changing Peru towards success and prosperity. In Trujillo, today is the day of agro-exporters, small companies, and the future”, she said.
ONPE announced that the official results (100% of votes counted in every district, city and region) will be known in about 15 days.
Exit polls in Peru’s regional elections suggest losses for established parties
Living in Peru
November 20, 2006
(LIP-wb) Peruvians voted new regional governments and mayors on Sunday and exit poll results indicate that independent candidates are the winners throughout the country while Peru’s established parties suffered disappointing losses.
First indications are that the mayor of Lima, Luis Castaneda Lossio (Unidad Nacional), has been re-elected, although he did not gain nearly as many votes (48-50%) as many expected. His most important challenger Humberto Lay (Restauracion National) gained about 16%.
(see chart for Lima’s mayorship here -link, El Comercio-)
Candidates for the conservative Unidad Nacional (UN) alliance of Lourdes Flores will also win most of the 43 districts that conform Lima’s metropolitan area, nevertheless the party lost some of the heavy support it received during the presidential elections in April.
Antonio Meier and Manuel Masías will be the new mayors of Lima’s districts San Isidro and Miraflores, respectively, while Alberto Tejada and Luis Dibós will continue as mayors for the districts San Borja and La Molina.
According to the polls, Meier, – the father of the renowned Peruvian actor/singer Christian Meier – obtained 43.2% of the votes, and Manuel Masías (50%, UN) will be the new mayor of Miraflores, beating current mayor Fernando Andrade (26%, Somos Peru) by a large margin. Andrade was obviously hit hard by TV reports 2-3 months before the election, which showed video footage of his brother Gustavo Andrade receiving bribes in exchange for business licenses.
In San Borja, Alberto Tejada (Democracy with Values) was re-elected (47%).
President Alan Garcia’s APRA party won the elections in the northern region of La Liberdad but suffered a major disappointment by losing the mayorship in the capital of Trujillo, traditionally the party’s main stronghold in the country. In all possibility José Murgia (APRA) will become governor of La Libertad and the new mayor of Trujillo will be César Acuña of the “Alianza para el Progreso” party.
Ollanta Humala’s Nationalistic Party probably suffered the most. Although his candidate Simon Balbuena will be the new mayor of Arequipa, the “White City” in Peru’s south, the party suffered heavy losses throughout Peru’s southern and Andean areas, where Humala gained most of his votes in the presidential elections last April.
In the region of Lambayeque, Yehude Simon will govern for a second term, and the governor of the Arequipa region will be Juan Manuel Guillén of the local party “Tradition and Future”.
Alex Kouri was re-elected as regional president of Callao and Felix Moreno will be the city’s mayor.
Other races are too close to call.
Exit poll results in other Limean districts:
Lince: Fortunato Príncipe 42,4 %, César Gonzáles 30,0%, Hernán de la Fuente 9,3%
Magdalena del Mar: Francis Allison 66,4%, Juno Mannarelli 11,11%, Jorge Vergel 10%
San Miguel: Salvador Heressi 71,8%, Robert Pando 12,3%, Oscar Romanville 7,1%
Surquillo: Gustavo Sierra 37,7%, José Huamaní 27,8%, David Carpio 13,9%
Ate: Oscar Benavides 29,6%, Juan Dupuy 18,5%, Gerardo Chiclla 18,4%
Rímac: Víctor Leyton 36,4%, Gloria Jaramillo 23,5%, Luis Beltrán 9.3%
San Luis: Fernando Durand 32,5%, Ricardo Castro 20,5%, Víctor Alegría 13,1%
Chorrillos: Augusto Miyashiro 66,4%, Dinas Concha 7,9%, Elsa Neyra 6,6%
San Juan de Miraflores: Edilberto Quispe 21,3%, Adolfo Ocampo 21,2%, Paulo Hinostroza 12,7%
Jesús María: Luis Ocrospoma 33,8, Carlos Bringas 31,0%, Livia Flores 12,5%
Pueblo Libre: Rafael Santos 36,1%, Ángel Tachinno 26,0%, Jhonel Leguía 15,1%
Breña: José Gordillo 28,8%, Carlos Solano 25,3%, Carlos Sandoval 7,7%
— more updates and first official results soon —