MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Fujimori “the best president”.

Former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori currently exiled in Japan and is spite of the many charges he faces including killings and disappearances, is considered by a majority of Peruvians, the best of the five presidents the country has had since 1980.

Current president Alejandro Toledo who has been in office since July 2001 ranks fifth, according to a public opinion poll taken between August 5 and 15, by the Peruvian Market and Public Opinion Studies Company.

When asked "who has been the best president? of the last five, 38% answered Alberto Fujimori; 28% Fernando Belaunde Terry; 11,9% Valentín Paniagua; 9,1% Alan García and 1,3% Alejandro Toledo. However 7,7% said none of the them was good and 3,8% refused to answer.

The opinion poll also indicated that 80,1% of those interviewed disapproved of the Toledo administration; 14,1% approve and 5,8% did not answer.

Mr. Belaunde was president from 1980 to 1985; Mr. García, 1985-1990; Mr. Fujimori 1990 until the end of 2000, and Mr. Paniagua until July 2001 when Mr. Toledo took office for a five year term.

A local analyst from Lima, Martin Tanaka argues that the strong support for Mr. Fujimori in towns and rural areas can be explained by his administration's social policies plus the fact he had "sufficient funds from privatizations that legitimized people's recognition".

However Mr. Tanaka points out that the opinion poll is basically a "perception", with people feeling that "Mr. Toledo's administration is bad; Mr. García's was terrible; Mr. Paniagua only spent a few months in office and Mr. Belaunde was not so bad after all".

The poll involved 2,300 people over 18 and in 124 towns and villages, "a wide geographic coverage that includes rural areas, which are rarely polled".