Leading Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori is facing growing opposition, a sign that her plan to distance her party from her father’s government more than 16 years ago hasn’t worked out as planned.
On Tuesday, thousands of people marched in downtown Lima against Fujimori, carrying signs recalling corruption and human rights violations committed during her father’s administration from 1990 to 2000.
The protests began in central Lima’s Plaza San Martin and then moved towards the office of the National Jury of Elections, or JNE. The demonstrators want Fujimori to be barred from participating in the campaign following videos showing that her party gave out money to prospective voters.
Fujimori’s political allies said that the candidate, who was seen in the video, didn’t actually hand over the envelopes of cash to the supporters during the campaign, meaning that she shouldn’t be barred.
Fujimori’s vice president running-mate, José Chlimper, said that the money was handed out by a group called Factor K, which supports the candidate but isn’t directly related to her or her party.
“Keiko Fujimori didn’t touch any of the envelopes of money,” he said. “The virgin protected her.”
The calls for electoral officials to bar Fujimori aren’t likely to succeed, however they follow the removal of candidates Julio Guzman and Cesar Acuña from the race.
Guzman was seen as the best positioned candidate to defeat Fujimori in a second round run-off, however a poll this week showed that Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had a slight edge over her going into a second round.
Commies 0, Fujimori 1 Peruvians have short memories. Most of the younger ones weren’t even born during the Terrorist era, which also included a “hot war” with Ecuador, and runaway inflation. Alberto Fujimori …fixed all of those problems. Killing communist terrorists and those providing material aid and support to them, isn’t a “Human Rights Violation”….unless, or course, you’re a communist. I was here in Peru during that time…..and thank God for a man like El Chino….who was strong enough to do what needed to be done. “Save your country….go to Prison”. It’s no wonder that Peru has a dearth of “good candidates”…..considering that the penalty for doing “the right thing”….is to be imprisoned on trumped-up charges.
I was in Juliaca during the last run-off election. It was common knowledge that the Senderos attended at the polls, forcing people to vote for Humala….thus depriving Keiko Fujimori of her win…..albeit by a TINY percentage….likely the result of the Senderos’ interference. Humala’s election campaign was financed by Hugo Chavez……I didn’t see any indignant outcries about that in the “leftie” press.