MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian presidential campaign flares but still undecided

With less than two weeks to the April 9 election Peruvian ultra nationalist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala remains ahead in the first round but looks like having problems in a hypothetical run off with runner up Social Christian Lourdes Flores.

The latest public opinion poll from Apoyo, released in Lima Sunday shows Mr. Humala with 33% vote intention, followed by Ms Flores 27% and Alan García unchanged with 22%. Compared to a week ago the former Army officer has gained a point and Ms Flores lost one.

However in a hypothetical run off in May, Flores figures ahead with 53% and Humala with 47%. Last week's poll showed them square even in 50%. But Peruvian political analysts point out that the May 7 run off, if no candidate garners 50% plus one of the vote, "will be like beginning again, a completely different ball game".

In a more in depth analysis Apoyo's director Alfredo Torres said that in the last seven days little of what was predicted happened: Flores did not collapse; Humala did not surge to near 50%; and the other three candidates remained unchanged: García 22%; Martha Chavez belonging to former president Fujimori's party 7% and former president Valentin Paniagua, 6%.

Another 18% is still undecided but Mr. Arroyo argues they are not crucial since over half of them will vote blank or null.

Meantime the campaign has flared with personal attacks involving President Alejandro Toledo, First Lady Eliane Karp and the eclectic family of Humala.

President Toledo blasted Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez for interfering in Peruvian politics after having said in his Sunday program that "it smells as something similar to Bolivia is going to happen in Peru" in direct reference to indigenous president Evo Morales victory.

Mr. Chavez openly supports Mr Humala and has attacked Ms Flores as a conservative member of the "dominant oligarchy". Early this year Chavez also invited Humala to Caracas.

"I will not tolerate Chavez interference in Peru", warned President Toledo who accused Humala's followers of importing the "monkey Chavez model" and bringing the "Middle East" conflict to Peru.

Mr. Humala's spokesperson Daniel Abugattas called Mr. Toledo's wife "a bitch?" for allegedly having impeded a group of Palestinians citizens from being issued visas to Israel. Mr Abugattas is of Palestinian descent and First Lady Eliane Karp Jewish.

"He's a miserable coward, why doesn't he address me? If he does not apologize in 48 hours I will demand him as a simple citizen", said a furious President Toledo.

But leading candidate Humala has also had apologize for his family's abusive language and begged the press not to link him to such "madness".

One of Humala's brothers Antaruo, a retired Army officer currently jailed for an armed uprising in January 2005 and Congressional candidate said that President Toledo and his wife "should go before a firing squad" as a lesson to traitors and corrupts. He later included in the same fate Primer Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Earlier last week Humala's father Isaac said he was in favour of an amnesty for Shinning Path terrorist group leader Abimael Guzmán. His mother Elena Tasso proposed sending to the firing squad "all homosexuals and perverts".

At the same time Antauro who complains of bad press proposed having all broadcasting and television stations should become government property.

"All this is madness, democracy, human and civil rights, freedom of the press must be respected and are essential to my government's program", said Ollanta Humala.

"Please respect my parents. I love them but ideologically they don't belong to my party and have no kind of influence, or will they have over me", implored the candidate

His rivals have jumped on the opportunity and insist it is all part of the "Humala clan" ideology which proposes a radical "ethno-nationalism", closer to "fascism than to any other ideology".