MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian opinion poll confesses corruption is rampant

An overwhelming majority of Peruvians believe their country is corrupt or very corrupt, according to a national public opinion poll published Friday in the capital Lima press.

The Ipsos Apoyo Opinion y Mercado poll shows that 48% of interviews consider Peru a corrupt country, 34% "very corrupt" and 17% "moderately corrupt". The poll with 5.760 interviews was done between September 13 and October 17. More over 64% relieve that corruption is more extended among politicians than in the rest of the community and another 70% points to political parties as the "most responsible" for the country's extended corruption. Several serious corruption cases surfaced this year in Peru, the worst of all involved government officials allegedly taking money and favours to privilege a Norwegian corporation in the awarding of oil and gas exploration and exploitation rights. The scandal triggered a political crisis and forced the demise of Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo. The poll which has a minus/plus margin of 1.4 percentage points also reveals that 34% of Peruvians believe the current administration of President Alan García is not interested in combating corruption. Another 55% blamed corrupt civil servants and authorities as the main problem for Peru to advance and develop all its resources and potential. The poll also showed that 41% of Peruvians are convinced that under the governments of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990/2000) "corruption was worse" than in 2008, while another 34% stated that in the first administration of Alan Garcia (1985/1990) the situation was more severe than currently. Looking ahead 42% of interviews said corruption will become worse or increase in the next five years. As to the most corrupt institutions, the list is headed by the Judiciary branch (61%); National Police (53%) and Congress (47%).