Leftist candidate Susana Villarán holds a 12-point advantage in voter preference over her conservative rival Lourdes Flores in the race for Lima mayor one week before the Oct. 3 ballot, according to a poll released Sunday night.
The poll conducted by Ipsos Apoyo, and broadcast on the Sunday night news program Cuarto Poder, showed Villarán (Fuerza Social) leading with 40 percent, compared to 28 percent for Flores (PPC-UN).
The results were based on a simulated ballot filled out by 580 Metropolitan Lima voters on Sept. 25 and a survey of 510 residents conducted Sept. 23-24. The poll had a margin of error of 4.3 percentage points.
Humberto Lay (Restauración Nacional) trailed in third place with 8 percent, followed by Fernando Andrade (Somos Perú) with 4 percent and Fernán Altuve (Cambio Radical) with 2 percent. Candidates Gonzalo Alegría (Acción Popular), Luis Iberico (Alianza por el Progreso) and Alex Gonzáles (Siempre Unidos) each had 1 percent.
Blank or spoiled ballots accounted for 6 percent and 9 percent of respondents declined to say who they planned to vote for.
The simulated ballot, taking into account only valid votes, gave Villarán 40.5 percent, and Flores 30.4 percent.
Flores had led voter preference during most of the campaign, but was dramatically overtaken in the polls earlier this month by Villarán following the release of an illegally recorded private conversation between Flores and her close political confidant, former Congressman Xavier Barron.
During the conversation, Flores told Barron she had “never cared less about an election than this one.”
“They can stick City Hall up the ass,” she added. “What does the mayor’s office mean to me? It is the least important thing in my life.”
Her unguarded comments were in reaction to the first poll that showed her losing her lead to Villarán.
The two candidates are scheduled to face off in a televised debate Monday night.
