MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Only 3 points difference between Peru leading presidential hopefuls for April 10

Keiko Fujimori consolidating as the candidate with the less volatile support

Two weeks before the first round of voting in the Peruvian presidential election the two leading candidates are technically tied, and so are runner ups, according to the latest public opinion poll published this week in the Lima media.

Former president Alejandro Toledo and the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, Keiko Fujimori are leading with 20.5% and 20% of vote intention reveals a poll from CPI covering the whole of Peruvian territory.

According to these results, Toledo is on a free fall having lost 7.9 percentage points in the last three weeks while Keiko has gradually consolidated from 18.5% to 20%.

In the runner ups team former Lima major Luis Castañeda who only a few months ago was seen as the favourite candidate has dropped below 17% while the ultra nationalist former Army officer Ollanta Humala has climbed to 17% in less than three weeks.

Similarly former prime minister, banker and economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, PPK, stands with 14.9%, after tailing for weeks with 7%.

Manuel Saavedra head of CPI said that much of the Peruvian public opinion volatility can be explained because the electorate is fed up and saturated with the aggressive, abusive style of the media campaign that targets private lives of the candidates.

“Three week ago Toledo had a comfortable lead over his closest runner up but since he was the favourite all fire concentrated on his private life with the most unbelievable claims”, said Saavedra. “Let’s hope that when the big rallies finalizing the campaign things return to normal”, he added.

Saavedra said that 26% of the electorate can still change its vote preference before voting day April 10, which is “quite extraordinary since we are just over two weeks away from the big event”.

Meantime Ollanta Humala, who five years ago made it to the run-off with President Alan Garcia, said he trusted the votes of the ruling Apra party will support him on April 10.

Feared by investors and the business community Humala said the APRA traditional voters are closer to his nationalist position. Although President Garcia belongs to APRA, the party has split over his pro-business and open economy policies and his pro-US stance.

Further more in spite of the Peruvian economy success, one of the fastest growing in the region, his public opinion ratings have always been below 20%.

APRA grass roots complain that the success of the Peruvian economy and windfall earnings from the mining industry (mostly in foreign hands) has not been “distributed among the people”. They also argue President Garcia has been too complacent with foreign investors.

“I won’t go knocking on the APRA door bur remember that APRA founder Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre, created the first nationalist party in Peru and among other things we strongly share our anti-imperialism position” assured Humala, who is a good friend and admirer of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez.

If no candidate garners 50% plus one of votes cast April 10 a run off is scheduled for June 5.