Peruvian Elections Earn International Condemnation

  
"Fujimori Wins Questionable Election" (La Nación, Argentina); "Fujimori Imposes His Rule in Peru" (El Tiempo, Colombia); "Fujimori, A Bad Moment" (El Comercio, Ecuador); "Election of Fujimori Unleashes Violence" (El Nacional, Venezuela). These were some of the headlines as Latin American newspapers announced the results of Peru's controversial May 28 run-off elections. The second round of voting went ahead as planned despite the recommendation of all of the international observers present-along with the governments of many countries-that it be postponed until technical conditions could be improved enough to ensure a fair and transparent election.

The first official results, published amidst widespread confusion and massive demonstrations throughout the country, declared incumbent President Alberto Fujimori the victor, with 50.08% of the votes. His opponent, Alejandro Toledo-who withdrew in protest from the second round-received only 16.5%. The high percentage of nullified ballots-32.48%-cast even greater doubt on the election's legitimacy (although, according to Peru's election laws, 66% of ballots must be left blank or otherwise voided to declare a contest invalid).

Some analysts pointed out that if only valid ballots were counted, Fujimori claimed 75.22% of the vote, compared to 24.78% for Toledo. But the race looks much closer if one considers the voided ballots and the absentee rate (estimated at 18.2%), along with the votes cast directly for Toledo. The numbers themselves are merely the culmination of a process whose results were tainted from the beginning, as the following chronology makes clear.

April 14: Transparency International complains that in the first round of voting, 1.5 million more ballots were cast than the number of registered voters.

May 18: Toledo announces that he will not participate in the second round if it is held as scheduled on May 28, and calls on his supporters to abstain or nullify their ballots. Peru's Junta Nacional Electoral (JNE) rejects his demand to postpone the election until June 18 to correct irregularities in the voting process.

May 22: The OAS mission in Peru, headed by former Guatemalan Chancellor Eduardo Stein, suspends its technical supervision of the elections after finding numerous problems with the computerized system.

May 25: The OAS mission requests a 10-day postponement of the election. The JNE announces that the voting will be held as planned on May 28, despite additional calls for a delay from the international community. The OAS observers issue a statement that the process in place for the second round of voting "is far from being considered free and fair."

May 26: The OAS observer mission leaves the country, followed by foreign observers from the Carter Center and the European Union. Peruvian groups such as Transparency International, the Council for Peace and the Public Ombudsman announce their rejection of the decision to proceed with the election.

Now that the election is over and Fujimori declared the winner, what happens next?

Peruvian analysts quoted in Colombia's El Tiempo predict that Fujimori's administration will be assailed by international pressure and the internal polarization of Peruvian society. They report widespread fear of violence. Others point to the special session of the OAS Permanent Council, where member countries may be surveyed to see to what degree they are prepared to isolate Peru and present a case before the OAS General Assembly meeting in Canada in early June. This could be the beginning of an escalating series of condemnations, culminating in sanctions. These observers cite OAS Resolution 1080, which encourages member countries to defend democracy in the region through the use of political pressure, as well as Resolution 43 of the US Congress, which can be invoked to suspend political, military and economic relations with countries alleged to have held undemocratic elections.

In Peru, opposition Congresswoman Lourdes Flores stated in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nación that when the new Congress convenes on July 28-the day of Fujimori's inauguration-its members will declare the presidential office to be vacant as a consequence of illegitimate elections and Fujimori's own "moral incapacity."

Fujimori's ambition to serve a third term as president of Peru has brought him up against the United States, the European Union and the OAS. The outcome of the confrontation is still uncertain; right now, all that's sure is that the people of Peru will be the clear losers.