Peru Election 2006

Thanks to Marco (Utero de Marita) and Silvio (Gran Combo Club) for mentioning Peru Election 2006 in their coverage of best blogs of 2006!

See: Hablo el Pueblo and Gran Combo Club Bitácoras peruanas

With the second round of the election completed, we are now returning to Canada where we will continue to monitor events in Peru from a distance—and with somewhat less intensity—until July 28, 2006, when the new government is inaugurated. After July 28 the weblog will remain permanently available to anyone who wishes to use it as an educational resource or research tool.

There will be more posts in Spanish and fewer in English this week. Part of the “Peru Election 2006” crew is in La Paz, Bolivia, observing the evolving political situation under President Evo Morales. We will be writing about the situation in Bolivia as it affects the election in Peru. The news from Peru will be covered by Jorge Bazo and Hugo Passarello Luna, and mainly in Spanish.

Readers of this blog will notice we have not posted anything in a couple of days. We have made the transcontinental trip from rainy Vancouver to sunny Peru. From now on we will write from Peru—mainly Lima, but our intention is also to travel within Peru. Our new location will change the content of our postings somewhat. In particular, there will be more content based on our own direct observations. That said, we will continue to provide the service of linking to sources such as polls, other blogs, and newspaper articles available on the Internet. We welcome comments on what we’re doing—or not doing—that readers may wish to make.
And a reminder to our readers: this weblog is academic and nonpartisan. We welcome comments and reactions and we do not mind if readers vent a little or express enthusiasm for candidates or express partisan ideas (as long as we are not mistaken for representing one or another of the parties in contention). However, abusive, sexist, racist, or demeaning language of any sort should seek outlet elsewhere. Thanks.

We are grateful to Grupo de Opinión Pública (GOP) for providing us the Barometros.

We are grateful to Peru 21, Expreso and La Primera for granting us permission to reproduce their news articles and opinion pieces.

We are grateful for the extraordinary assistance of the folks at “e-learning@UBC” for setting up this weblog for us. Brian Lamb and Frank Pan, in particular, did an amazing job of creating the site so that it would have the look and feel and the functionality we wanted.
Research funding for this project was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Neither SSHRC nor UBC is responsible for the content of this weblog, which lies exclusively with the authors.

This website has been created to chronicle, analyze and comment on the Peruvian general elections to be held in April 2006. The elections offer an opportunity to assess the quality of democracy in Peru, the prospects for revival of political party organizations, the role of the grassroots and women in politics, the impact of inequality and neoliberalism on politics, and the role of the international community in the promotion and defence of democracy.