Our entire month in Peru coincided with run up to the National Elections their. We took more than a passing interest given the passion the Peruvian’s had for their civic duty and the parallel to May’s federal election in Canada.
No less than 11 parties had presidential candidates along with numerous regional candidates for the Mid – April election. Among the candidates were the standard former military leader, Otlanta – always an extremely popular but divisive choice throughout South America – and Kikko Fujimori, the daughter of a former President presently servicing a 25 year jail sentence in Peru for corruption and a string of other crimes during his time in office during the 1990’s.
Voting is compulsory and they take there democratic right much more seriously given their history of oppression and dictators. We’ve found talking politics here requires much more listening than talking perfect for Canadians.
We came across no fewer than 10 marches in 5 cities during our visit, many of which took on a carnival like atmosphere with bands, fireworks, and the whole family proudly taking part all proudly displaying their parties colors.
The election itself took place on a Sunday while we found ourselves high in the mountains of Northern Peru. It was intentional as the most services – especially transportation – were at a standstill. We returned to find that the election was a draw – sort of – meaning a run off between the two top vote getters listed previous in June. In the meanwhile we assume yet another passionate month of election fever in May while our new Conservative majority begins rule at home.
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