Tight race for Peru's presidency
Peru’s second round presidential vote Sunday pits an ex-president’s daughter, Keiko Fujimori, against Ollanta Humala, an ex-military officer turned left-wing politician. With the candidates neck-and-neck in opinion polls, a tight finish is predicted.
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Humala, 48, is the son of a famous Marxist-Leninist lawyer. A long-time admirer of Venezuelan left-wing leader Hugo Chavez, he now says that he models himself on former Brazilian president Luiz Ignacio da Silva.
On the right is Keiko Fujimori, a 36-year-old MP, whose father Alberto is serving a 25-year jail sentence for corruption and rights abuses during his 1990-2000 presidency.
Despite a decade of record growth fueled by mineral exports, over a third of Peru's 29 million people live in poverty.
In the Andean provinces poverty reaches 60 per cent.
Fujimori favours free-market economics and is advised by many of her father's allies.
Humala is of Indian origin, as are 80 per cent of Peruvians and he is promising strong state intervention.
Humala has support from artists and intellectuals, including author Mario Vargos Llosa, a one-time conservative presidential candidate, while among Fujimori’s backers is former New York mayor Rudi Giuliani.
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