MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian capital Lima’s first woman mayor narrowly survives recall vote

Susana Villaran is a human rights activist who has been in office since 2010

The first woman mayor of Peru's capital Lima, Susana Villaran, has narrowly survived a vote to depose her from office, exit polls suggest. They indicate that Ms Villaran was backed by about over 50% of voters.

The campaign to recall her was backed by the conservative opposition who accused her of being inefficient - a claim denied by Ms Villaran.

In 2010 she also became the first left-wing politician to be elected as mayor of the capital. About six million people were eligible to cast their ballots in Sunday's vote. The electoral commission has promised to announce the official results on Monday.

After her victory three years ago, Ms Villaran, a human rights activist, promised to tackle corruption in Lima, which is home to a third of Peruvians.

Ms Villaran's supporters have accused the country's business elite and powerful conservative politicians of trying to oust her because of her progressive social policies.

Villaran has battled to organize Lima's chaotic, transit system and reform other corruption-ridden institutions. She was backed by most of Peru's political establishment.

The detractors, including her predecessor, Luis Castañeda, called her inept and inefficient, and slow in executing public works projects. They collected signatures to call Sunday's vote on whether to remove her from office. But their efforts appeared to have failed.

Polling company CPI showed 54% of voters rejecting her ouster, while polling firms Ipsos and Datum Internacional had her receiving roughly 53% support.

“Today nobody lost, today Lima won,” Villaran said.