PERU: Leftist Ollanta Humala inches foward in election polls for Peru's presidential vote and critics sling back with more rumors of links to Venezuela

Record ID: 345450

  • Title: PERU: Leftist Ollanta Humala inches foward in election polls for Peru's presidential vote and critics sling back with more rumors of links to Venezuela
  • Date: 4th June 2011
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LIMA RESIDENT, LIZBETH CARDENAS, SAYING: "We already know what Mr. Humala thinks about Hugo Chavez. They have the same ideas." PEOPLE WALKING IN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LIMA RESIDENT, LEOPOLDO JAUREGUI, SAYING: "What they fear is that someone is going to come along and break up their whole little system." CARS IN STREETS
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Peru, Peru
  • Country: Peru
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA8HOTUL7RZR1W5C6ST9BRKXSM0
  • Story Text: Right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori is losing ground in Peru's presidential election, bringing left-winger Ollanta Humala within striking distance of winning the vote on Sunday.
    Two polls obtained by Reuters on Friday (June 03) showed Humala leading by between 1 and 3.6 percentage points, while another gave him a 1.2 point lead.
    Fujimori closed her campaign to the cheers of thousands of supporters in Lima on Thursday.
    Her father Alberto opened Peru to free trade and slayed hyperinflation while he was president in the 1990s, but he was later sent to prison for corruption and for using death squads to crack down on left-wing insurgents.
    Fujimori's support mainly comes from those Peruvians who liked her father as president.
    In some of her final remarks, she highlighted family matters.
    "The most difficult thing for me has not been any of the attacks or names [I have been called] but the time I have missed out on spending with my daughters," Fujimori said.
    With polls going into the Sunday vote so close, Fujimori said her camp will wait for the official results to be announced before announcing victory or defeat.
    Experts say the recount could take days.
    "First we are going to wait for the results, not for the first results that are flashed [in the media] but for the quick and careful counting of the votes and obviously we will respect the final result," Fujimori said.
    Fujimori has warned that Humala could roll back free-market reforms that were first implemented by her father and contributed to stability after years of economic chaos and guerrilla wars.
    Her economic team says it has put together a good platform.
    "I am very optimistic. I think that Keiko's run for the presidency has sailed well, she has shown her leadership qualities and has started to put together a great team and has attended to all the essential items on the agenda at hand," Fujimori's economic advisor, Hernando de Soto, said.
    As Fujimori's rival inched ahead in the polls, new claims emerged about links between Humala and socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
    The Spanish-language broadcaster Univision reported Humala was receiving money directly from the Venezuelan embassy in Lima.
    Humala refuted the claims, saying the report was nothing more than "cheap story."
    "The same journalist from Univision [who made the claims] has now said there is no proof. Anyone can write a fiction story, or come up with a cheap story just a few hours before the elections. The only thing it demonstrates is that our political opponents are desperate and they want to confuse the people," Humala said.
    Other reports claimed Humala has links to drug trafficking, but again Humala said it was all "lies."
    "The lies and slander of these newspapers which are trying to link Ollanta Humala to drug trafficking are examples of how the intelligence services are trying to attack our candidacy and support that of Congresswoman Fujimori," Humala said.
    Investors worry Humala - who as an army commander led a bloodless revolt in 2000 to demand the elder Fujimori step down - will implement interventionist policies and boost social spending.
    Peru has grown nearly as fast as China over the past few years but a third of Peruvians still live in poverty.
    On the streets of the capital Lima, people seemed as divided as the polls - some believing the claims against Humala and others defending him.
    "We already know what Mr. Humala thinks about Hugo Chavez. They have the same ideas," one Lima resident, Lizbeth Cardenas, said.
    "What they fear is that someone is going to come along and break up their whole little system," another resident, Leopoldo Jauregui, said.
    Votes from Peruvians overseas could prove crucial in Sunday's elections.
    International monitors have arrived in the country to observe the vote, but the Humala camp has still warned of the possibility of fraud.
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