President Ollanta Humala’s ruling Nationalist Party plans to forge an alliance with Lima Mayor Susana Villaran’s Fuerza Social party for the upcoming municipal and regional elections this year, according to daily La Republica.
Villaran is expected to run for office again in October, when the elections will be held.
“We are in serious conversations with the Nationalist Party,” said Eduardo Zegarra, a member of the Fuerza Social party and a former deputy mayor. “We are proposing an alliance… like we have with other organizations that aren’t necessarily going to run in the election in Lima.”
The mayor of Lima, a city of nine million people, is considered the second most important elected position in Peru after that of President.
This year’s election will likely put Villaran up against her predecessor, Luis Castañeda, who is expected to run for office again although he has just lost the support of Alan Garcia’s APRA party. The two politicians have been strong critics of each other’s administration.
After taking office, Villaran’s administration audited the public works of Castañeda’s two terms and found several indications of corruption, while Castañeda was widely seen as driving the recall campaign that almost ousted Villaran from office early by organizing a referendum.
