Latest results as of
9.05pm, Friday, 96.04% of counted votes:
Ollanta Humala:
30.82%Alan Garcia:
24.34%Lourdes Flores:
23.56%Alan Garcia leads Lourdes Flores by 92,227 votes, or 0,78%.
Lima is covered by a dense fog this Friday morning but contrary to the weather forecast , the fog that hung over the presidential election results is slowly lifting and the picture of who will advance to the second round is getting clearer.
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I Am The Sum Of All FearsInterview with Ollanta Humala, by German Newspaper "Die Welt", April 19th, 2006:
Q: Mr. Humala, how do you feel when you are mentioned in one breath with Evo Moráles and Hugo Chávez?
A: I am just a simple candidate and feel honored to be compared with such leaders who are highly regarded in their countries. We should not forget that Latin America is in a process of decay that its peoples slowly begin to detain, for example by finding solutions for the collapse of the neoliberal model. A new leadership has emerged from this situation and I feel as being a part of this latinamerican family.
Q: You identify with Chávez and his
bolivarian revolution. What connects you with Venezuela's president?
A: If you listen to the current peruvian administration then I am financed by Chávez. Others say the drug cartells are paying me. I am the sum of all fears. I will not make Peru a Chávez subsidiary. We are a nationalistic movement, depending on no one. My paradigm is peruvian ex-president Gen. Velasco Alvarado because I am also military, nationalist, and my politics are aimed against the traditional regime that betrays the people.
Q: Is there really a "new left" in Latin America?
A: One can say there is a new left or an indigenous streaming or, as in Peru, a nationalism. The name is discussible. The important thing is, it is a movement against neoliberalism that searches for alternatives to solve the problems of the majority and to solve structural problems like foreign indebtedness, poverty, the level of education, the issues of energie and coca cultivation.
Q: Do you see the coca cultivation as a integral part of your culture, like Evo Moráles does?
A: Coca cultivation is really an important part of the Andean-american culture and fundamental for our identity. Thats why a forced, violent eradication cannot be the solution because it destroys the basis of income of 200.000 farming families. Instead we should seek profitable alternatives, formulas and mechanisms for a healthy exploitation of the coca plant.
Q: Your politics wants to combine social justice and nationalism. How does your nationalism look like?
A: Nationalism is the defense of the nation and an answer to the de-nationalization process, which is a result of the globalization that followed the victory of imperialism after the cold war. In this process some countries are globalizing other countries, just like we Peruvians are being globalized. Furthermore nationalism is a reassurance of democracy and its institutions, the fortification of the citizen.
Q: Globalization has no advantages?
A: Of course. For instance in communication potentials, health, education. But at the same time it is softening our sovereignty and destroys the cultural identity of peoples. In Peru it enriches those who control the economy and to impose their power by politicians to protect their interests.
Q: Do you want to nationlize foreign companies?
A: No. We respect private property and investment, we want for them to come and pay their taxes. We are in favor of international investment. However, in regard to strategic activities the state cannot renounce its ownership role. In the case of coal and gas the state has to able to co-manage. With 49, 50 or 51 percent. We will not give Repsol or Telefonica the chop, but we want the state to be a co-shareholder.
(conversation lead by Gonzalo Caceres for Deutsche Welle TV)read the interview (written in German)
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news in brief:- The 'virtual' congressman of Lourdes Flores' alliance 'Unidad National', Walter Menchola, clarified that his party '
Solidaridad Nacional' has not split from the electoral alliance with 'Partido Popular Cristiano' and 'Renovación Nacional'. In talking to the press, he indicated that the future of this coalition will be analyzed after the results of the presidential elections are known.
(my take: sounds like a reprieve to me...)
- The ex-candidate of "National Restoration",
Humberto Lay Sun, insisted that several anomalies and irregularities in the vote count to the Congress were discovered, which would exclude his party of a representation in the coming legislative. "We have found 50 errors in 50 'actos', this seems suspicious", he said in press conference.
Lay stopped short from describing the irregularities as fraud but he reiterated that the number of faults in the vote count are suspect. In addition he said that they are working on a revision of the count and that they hope that this will be concluded as rapidly as possible. "We are implementing personal computers to accelerate the process".
(my take: The evangelist minster Ley was one of the big surprises in this election, no one expected he would get that many votes. I truly hope his obections are well founded, otherwise it sounds kinda funny how people react when their party falls a couple of votes short. Well, I guess we've seen it before...)
- On Monday, April 24, the '
week of vaccination in the Américas' begins. Parents will be able to take their children to diverse supermarkets like Wong and Metro to be immunized against diseases like the polio, tetanus and hepatitis B, among others.
(my take: no word yet on how/where this this is handled in rural areas outside Lima. Inquiring minds want to know...)
(photo by National Geographic)
-The 'Ubinas' volcano, located in the region of Moquegua 900 kilometers south of Lima, continues to send clouds of poisonous ash and acidic smoke up to 800 meters high into the air and raining ash covers towns in an 8 kilometer radius.
Locals have been wearing face masks to keep from breathing ashes and fumes, and some have even bestowed the protection on their livestock, as seen in the above image of a calf taken on Wednesday.
The first evacuations are under way.
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today's featured links:a very interesting discovery by Max Cameron:
Peru’s New Cleavage: North versus South
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Tags: Peru, election, election2006, results, Garcia, Flores, Humala, politics, SouthAmerica, LatinAmerica, news, Ubinas, volcano, health, vaccination, unloboenperu
If the more than 16 million Peruvian voters had to go to the ballot boxes today, APRA party candidate Alan Garcia Perez would prevail with 57% of the valid votes compared to 43% by his rival Ollanta Humala.
Garcia holds comfortable lead, Apoyo poll shows
iL maistro rules //
5/06/2006 12:46:00 AM
Inka-Wolfy //
5/06/2006 10:46:00 AM
