Business, Lima, Politics

Business Leaders Say Recall Election Could Hurt Lima’s Investments

Peru’s largest business association has said that a recall referendum against Lima Mayor Susana Villaran could create political uncertainty that would paralyze investments in the Peruvian capital, daily El Comercio reported.

Alfonso Garcia-Miró, vice-president of the business group Confiep, said the referendum could have a number of other negative impacts on the city.

“It’s regrettable that, as a consequence, this could create the risk of paralyzing the most important city in Peru, with all that needs to be done with investment, development and jobs,” he said.

Garcia said, however, that election authorities should go ahead with the process if the promoters of the recall vote have met the legal requirements.

Peru’s National Election Board last week announced that the recall election will be held March 17. The decision was made a few days after the organizers of the campaign against Villaran submitted a final lot of signatures calling for a referendum.

Villaran won a 2010 mayoral election by coming from behind to defeat prominent politician Lourdes Flores. However, Villaran has been heavily criticized by a tight opposition group ever since she was elected, two months before she actually took office, and today her popularity ranks around 20 percent to 25 percent.

Leading political analysts believe the campaign against Villaran has been led behind the scenes by Lima’s previous mayor, Luis Castañeda, since people close to him have financed and led the recall move and congressional members of his party have openly supported the campaign.

In the tradition of previous mayors, and of Castañeda himself when he was first elected, Villaran called for an audit of the previous administration when she first took office in January 2011. She was critical of Castañeda’s eight-year administration of the city and after the audit the judiciary began a formal investigation into allegations of corruption.

Villaran has been credited with tackling several challenges in Lima, including a major plan to better modernize and organize public transport, and relocate a crime-ridden wholesale market close to the city’s downtown area.

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