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The candidate leading the race is George Forsyth, a former goalkeeper for the national football team. However, though Forsyth is in first place, the poll gives him just 10% approval.
In a reflection of the lack of confidence in Peru’s politics, following years of high level corruption scandals, 50% of voters say that there is no candidate in the upcoming elections that they would support. A new poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies lays out the level dissatisfaction in Peru’s political class, in which none of the largest parties in congress are expected to come in the top two.
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A poll published on Tuesday, which surveyed opinion in both urban and rural areas, shows very little enthusiasm for the current candidates. The poll revealed that 29% said that do not plan to vote for any of the current candidates, 15% say they don’t know, 4% plan to spoil their ballot, and 2% said they will not vote at all.
The candidate leading the race is George Forsyth, a former goalkeeper for the national football team. However, though Forsyth is in first place, the poll gives him just 10% approval. In second place is Julio Guzman for the ‘Purple Party’ polling at 8%, then in third place is Keiko Fujimori on 5%, she is the former leader of the largest opposition party. Fujimori is also currently in prison on corruption charges.
The only leftist candidate is Veronika Mendoza of the ‘New Peru Movement’, who is currently polling in 4th place with 3%.
The poll comes as President Martin Vizcarra announced early elections, as a route out of the political crisis the country has been facing, following the revelations of wide-scale corruption among all the main party leaders in congress. Elections set to take place in 2020, will be brought forward to 2021.
Much of the country’s corruption scandal relates to revelations that the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, had financed political campaigns of numerous candidates and parties, in exchange for large public contracts were the candidate to win.
This scandal has led to corruption charges being brought against all of the country’s recent ex-presidents, as well as the leader of the opposition, Keiko Fujimori.
Despite an apparent crackdown and arrest of numerous figures, none have been formally charged, bringing allegations that there exists a climate of impunity in the country.
Another factor fuelling discontent has been the ‘Tia Maria’ strike in the Tambo Valley, where campesinos and labor unions in the Arequipa region have been on general strike against a multinational mining project which they say will have ruinous environmental effects.
Campesinos in the affected area have been on strike and protesting daily for weeks, often met with heavy police violence. They say the mine will pollute the River Tambo, which provides water to much of the local farmers in the area, furthermore, there is evidence that harmful gases will infect the area, such as Sulfur Dioxide and Nitrogen Oxide, adversely affecting public health and local crops.
A recent World Air Quality Report by the UN’s World Health Organization showed that Peru is already the worst in Latin America for air quality, and the 5th most contaminated globally.
Labor unions joined the strike on August 1st, shutting down much of the region. Industrialists, on Tuesday, bemoaned the effectiveness of the strike, saying that the conflict could lead to negative growth for the current quarter.
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