Presidential election in Peru: Left-wing candidate Castillo is in the lead

Forecasts indicate that in the first round of the presidential election in South America, the foreigner Castillo received a surprisingly high number of votes. Now he has to face an election.

In the presidential election in Peru, the left-wing candidate Point Pedro Castillo has a surprising presence. According to the El Comorcio newspaper, the candidate of the Marxist-Leninist split party, Pere Libre, received nearly 16 percent of the vote.

Behind the elementary school teacher were conservative economist Hernando de Soto and right-wing former parliamentarian Keiko Fujimori. Two strong candidates will run in the election.

De Choto, 79, is internationally recognized as a development policy expert. Fujimori is the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru arbitrarily and was sentenced to long prison terms for stopping death squads.

An outsider in the election campaign

Castillo was no one on screen at the election. It was clear that the referendum in Peru would leave a chaotic and fragmented political landscape. But Castillo’s favorites never appeared on the list. In surveys, he was considered a foreigner.

Audiences see this decision as a clear opposition vote. Corruption scandals and political turmoil have shaken confidence in the country’s politicians. In November, the three presidents shook hands with each other for a week.

Serious agenda

Castillo hails from the northern province of Chota and appeared politically only in 2017 as the leader of the teachers’ strike. The government accused him of having links with sympathizers of the left-wing rebel group “Shining Path.”

During the election campaign he put forward radical plans: he announced that he would change the constitution, abolish the Constitutional Court, regulate the media and nationalize oil and gas production. He also spoke of the establishment of a socialist state.

Peru is particularly badly affected by the corona epidemic: it is sometimes one of the countries with the highest mortality rate in the world, with the economy collapsing by 12.9 percent last year.