The current mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda, has said he will resign from his position on Monday in order to look at running in Peru’s presidential elections in April 2011, daily El Comercio reported.
“After October 11 we will start to think about the political event,” Castañeda said. “What I am doing is breaking the legal, bureaucratic barriers for an eventual run [for the presidency].”
After his resignation, Castañeda said he will start a national tour which may begin in northern Peru, daily Peru. 21 reported.
“Every time I take something on I study it and analyze it well,” he said. “I program it so that the job I may get from the population is done well. That’s why I will travel around the country.”
During his last week as mayor, Castañeda is planning to do a “final rush” for inaugurations of various public works, including a municipal theater.
A September poll of Peru’s possible presidential candidates had Castañeda sitting in second place with 19 percent support. In first place was Congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori, with 24 percent. Former president Alejandro Toledo and Ollanta Humala of Peru’s nationalist party were in third and fourth place, respectively.
