Election Day on the Road to Cusco

The last two days have perhaps been the lowpoint of the trip so far - a nasty bout of food poisoning (bad fish from Lake Titicaca), knocked me for six. However, I still had to get to Cusco in order to confirm my Inca trail booking and pay the balance, so I made the journey in two stages, stopping overnight in Puno. Yesterday was election day in Peru, the final run off between ex-president Alan Garcia and ex-army officer Ollanta Humala. On the road, Bolivian political graffiti for Evo´s MAS and Tuto´s PODEMOS parties, was replaced by Peruvian propaganda for Garcia and Humala. Garcia going for the "The Responsible Change" slogan, while Humala offered up "Love for Peru". Either result would be another swing to the left in Latin America after the recent election of Michele Bachelet in Chile and Evo Morales in Bolivia.

With over 90% of the vote counted, the result looks like a case of better the devil you know, than the devil you don´t - Garcia taking 54% of the vote to Humala´s 46% (voting is compulsory here). Garcia claimed his re-election was a message in favour of national independence and said the result was a blow to Venezuelan president and regional strongman Hugo Chavez, who backed his opponent and has been accused of interfering in Peruvian affairs. Until this final round Humala had led at the polls with a strong socialist-nationalist approach and support from the poorer indigenous minority. However, it looks like as predicted the bulk of the Lourdes vote (she was voted off in the last round) went to Garcia, giving him a clear majority.

Garcia´s last attempt at running the country between 1985 and 1990 ended in economic disaster with rampant inflation after the Government starting printing money in order to try and maintain spending. His period of office was also notable for his inablility to contain rise of the Shining Path terrorist group (the group were brought under control after the arrest of its leaders in 1992). He eventually resigned amidst allegations of embezelling millions of dollars. All this was great political ammunition for Humala but Garcia retaliated, criticising Humala for his involvement in a failed military coup against former president Fujimori as well as his close ties to Hugo Chavez. The election of Humala would have further strengthened Chavez´s socialist axis in South America but many are wary of the influence of Venezuela´s president and perhaps Humala´s more extreme socialist leanings may have proven too much for the elite to swallow. With Evo Morales currently acting out similar policies in neighbouring Bolivia (state control of foreign interests, notably oil and gas as well as land redistribution from the wealthy elite to the indigenous poor), many Peruvians were able to see into the near future of what Humala would have offered - and they may not have liked what they saw.