Now that you’ve had sufficient time to digest the awesomeness of the Presidential and Congressional Billboards, it would be a good time to talk about some of the controversy surrounding this year’s Presidential Election.
A photo of the five candidates. Photo courtesy of Miguel Bellido of El Comercio
The primaries were held in April and the top two candidates, Keiko Fujimori and Ollanta Humala, will compete for the President’s spot in the June elections.
I found a pretty good article that summarizes the candidates and their backgrounds. Here is a short excerpt from that article:
“The first round of presidential polls on April 10, 2011, set the stage for a June runoff between the leftist Ollanta Humala, a former military commander, and right-winger Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of a former Peruvian president who is in jail. Strangely, three well-qualified centrists — Luis Castañeda Lossio, Lima’s former mayor; Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, an economist who studied at Oxford and Princeton; and former president Alejandro Toledo, who has a doctorate from Stanford — all lost. (For the record, Fujimori has an MBA from Columbia University.) -Source: Harvard Business Review, “Peru’s Innovation Drive”, written by Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi.
I read an interesting article that accuses Keiko Fujimori of exchanging food for votes. Seeing as Peru is a third world country and a large percentage of Peruvians live in poverty, it’s not surprising to see someone (whose father happens to be serving a 25 year jail sentence for corruption) “win” votes by giving away free food.
I’ve posted the article below, but you can find the original on www.livinginperu.com under the “news” section. Here is the link – http://www.livinginperu.com/news-14834-2011-elections-keikos-campaigners-distribute-food-runoff-support-reveals-email
Keiko’s campaigners distribute food for runoff support, reveals email
By Jorge Riveros-Cayo
LivinginPeru.com
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| Keiko Fujimori’s political campaign team has been accused of manipulating food distribution to poor people in exchange for their support in the runoff. (Photo: EFE) |
Spanish newspaper El Mundo confirmed what had been a rumor for weeks: a campaign team for right-wing presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori’s is behind the organization of food distribution in poor areas of Lima in exchange for their support in the runoff.
An email that was sent to LivinginPeru.com at the end of April revealed that a group of Fujimori sympathizers were organizing this campaign in coordination with Fujimori’s political campaign team.
LivinginPeru.com has cross-examined information with other sources to discard that the email is a hoax. El Mundo’s report published on May 5 also confirms the authenticity of the message.
“Keiko Fujimori’s campaign team follows the same electoral strategy applied by her father to win an election: populist welfare,” writes the El Mundo article. “As in the nineties, Fujimori’s sympathizers want to exchange votes for rice, lentils, sugar and canned milked, products that are a luxury in the periphery areas of Lima due to its high prices.”
Fujimori’s sympathizers have been organizing this campaign for weeks, which includes buying and distributing food and blankets, as well as collecting money in cash that is delivered by Fujimori’s electoral campaign team in the poorest neighborhoods of Lima and rural areas in the highlands.
According to recent polls made by Ipsos-Apoyo, CPI and Datum, Ollanta Humala has higher percentages of support among the rural population and poorest socio-economic classes than Keiko Fujimori. The “aid strategy” would have as an objective to thwart these percentages and gain support from potential voters.
“The campaign strategy can be technically legal, but without doubt morally controversial,” says El Mundo.
The email
LivinginPeru.com received on April 28 an email that included a request to contribute to a “pro-Keiko initiative.”
The email text says, “Being a bit more than a month away from the runoff and wanting to contribute our two cents to Peru’s future, we have done a coordination meeting (…) and decided that the most pertinent things to be distributed by Keiko’s campaign team to poor people are the following options:
1. A bag with groceries that includes: 1 kg or rice, 1 kg of sugar, 1 kg of lentils or beans, 2 cans of milk and 2 cans of tuna fish (preferably in a translucent bag that can be requested in the cash register of Wong).
2. Donation of a king-sized blanket (they have to be new and preferably bagged in translucent bags) (I am attaching a blanket photo, they don’t have to be exactly the same but they are sold at any market).
3. Cash: In soles or dollars.”
Following the text above is a list of five women and their addresses where the groceries and blankets can be delivered to. Another name and email address is given for those that prefer to donate money.
The email suggests there was a previous message sent out to announce this initiative and that, apparently, the feedback was good. LivinginPeru.com did not have access to other emails.
Campaigners and beneficiaries confirm
El Mundo contacted Jeanette Stone, one of the five women listed that offered her house to collect the donations.
Stone explained that the bags with groceries will be distributed in shanty towns on Mother’s Day but also during the following weeks of Keiko’s presidential campaign. The blankets will be distributed in Andean rural communities visited by Fujimori.
Cecilia Matsuda, from Keiko’s presidential campaign team, was also contacted by El Mundo. She said the groceries are distributed as “social aid.” The bags of groceries have orange-colored stickers with a “K” for Keiko Fujimori.
Rosa Castillo, national coordinator of the “Clubes de Madres” (Mother’s Clubs), said that bags with groceries are distributed before Keiko Fujimori arrives to a shanty town during her presidential campaign.
“Members from her party arrive before her and distribute food and cookies so people are happier and willing to attend the meetings,” she said.
Castillo also said that Keiko’s brother Kenji Fujimori — recently elected congressman for Fuerza 2011 — also distributed food and gas kitchens to the communal dinning houses known as “Comedores Populares” where women cook low-cost meals for the community.
This strategy was also commonly used during ex-president Alberto Fujimori’s regime. “The Food Aid National Program (PRONAA) was Fujimori’s stronghold to distribute food for free with a political intention,” recalls Castillo.
“He conditioned the delivery of food. Mothers had to publicly support Fujimori and attend meetings, otherwise he would suspend all food aid,” she said.
Keiko denies political intention
Keiko Fujimori said that the food that is distributed are “small gifts” for Mother’s Day. “We are organizing meetings for Mother’s Day with our supporters and giving them small gifts,” Fujimori said last Sunday.
“This is a common practice done by companies and other political parties. I totally reject that there is a political intention in this,” said Fujimori to RPP radio station last Sunday.
Nevertheless, Fernando Vidal, president of the court of honor established by Peru’s National Electoral Jury, announced that they will evaluate this situation, reported La República.
Vidal said that Keiko Fujimori’s campaign strategy is not illegal, but from an ethical point of view highly questionable, especially if her father used the same strategies during his administration.
