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Humala leads Peru presidential vote; run-off certain: quick count
AFP/Jaime Razuri
Peruvian presidential candidate former lieutenant colonel Ollanta Humala, of the Union for Peru party, shows his ballot before casting his vote in Lima.By Patrick Moser
AFP
LIMA
Petroleumworld.com 04 10 06
Leftist Ollanto Humala led Peru's presidential race, with conservative Lourdes Flores and ex-president Alan Garcia competing to qualify for a run-off against the front-runner, partial results showed Monday.
Humala, a populist former army officer, garnered more than 28 percent of the vote, Flores took about 26.4 percent and Garcia had nearly 25.2 percent, according to an official count of just 58.8 percent of the valid ballots.
But projections, which pollsters said were more representative, gave Humala a far stronger lead with about 30 percent of the votes, as much as six points ahead of his two main rivals, who were virtually tied in second place.
With none of the hopefuls getting the 50 percent needed to win outright, the election was certain to be decided in a second round between the two top vote-getters.
To chants of "Humala president," the front-runner flashed a victory sign and told cheering supporters who gathered outside his party headquarters that "the great transformation of Peru," was launched with Sunday's voting.
Virtually unknown in political circles until recently, Humala has seen his popularity surge in just weeks. A tough-talking nationalist who admires Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez, he has become a controversial figure in Peru, loved by some, hated by others.
As he voted with his wife Nadine at a Lima university Sunday, several hundred protesters hurled eggs, plastic bottles and insults. Police used shields to protect him as he left the building to chants of "assassin, criminal".
Allegations that surfaced during the electoral campaign accuse Humala of responsibility for the torture and "disappearance" of leftist government opponents in 1992. The former lieutenant-colonel denies the claims.
Humala battled insurgents in the 1990s, and led a failed military rebellion against then president Alberto Fujimori in 2000.
All three leading candidates have pledged to fight for social justice, but it is Humala who appears to have stirred the imagination of the millions of impoverished Peruvians who often feel they have not shared in the country's economic growth.
Humala, 43, has called for a redistribution of wealth and exemplary punishments for crooked politicians he says have poisoned the country. He wants to tighten state controls over the gas and mining industries and opposes the US-financed eradication of coca, a medicinal herb from which cocaine is extracted.
His rivals portray him as a dictator in the making who would plunge Peru into total chaos.
Flores, for her part, is backed by the business community, and has battled claims she is the candidate of wealthy Peruvians. A staunch Roman Catholic who opposes abortion, Flores, 46, had already made two unsuccessful bids for the presidency.
Julio Sanchez, 44, a doctor who voted in Lima's middle-class San Isidro neighborhood, made it clear he wasn't impressed by any of the candidates.
He said Humala's popularity was cause for concern as the last thing Peru needs is "an improvised candidate".
"I voted for a candidate I don't fully trust," he said in reference to Garcia, whose 1985-1990 presidency was marked by hyperinflation and widespread corruption.
A gifted orator, the social-democratic ex-president spent much of his campaign seeking to convince voters he would not repeat past mistakes.
Garcia narrowly lost to Alejandro Toledo in the 2001 presidential election held after Fujimori fled to his ancestral Japan at the height of a corruption scandal.
Garcia's APRA party -- Peru's oldest -- dominated the legislative election but no party gained a majority in the 120-seat unicameral Congress, according to exit polls. Earlier opinion polls credited Fujimori's daughter Keiko with more support than any other congressional candidate.
Alberto Fujimori had hoped to run for a third five-year term, but was arrested in Chile last year as he tried to make his way back to Peru, where he is wanted on charges of corruption and human rights abuses.
AFP 04 10 06 1041 GMT
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