Bans on Peru presidential bets draw international criticism

LIMA, Peru – International observers are critical of the expulsion of candidates from Sunday’s (April 10) presidential election in Peru, the head of a key regional body said.

“Criticism of the system of impugning candidates is shared by the international community and by the OAS,” Luis Almagro, the Uruguayan secretary general of the Organization of American States, said on Twitter.

Nearly half of the candidates for the vote on April 10 have abandoned the race or been ruled out under an electoral reform in force since January.

Further disruption could come if accusations of vote-buying lead to the elimination of banker and economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

He is running second in the polls to the conservative Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peru’s jailed ex-leader Alberto Fujimori.

The 40-year-old Keiko Fujimori was spared Friday, April 1, when the National Electoral Board ruled her candidacy could move forward despite similar vote-buying accusations.

Almagro on Friday met with one of the excluded candidates and called for “measures to re-establish the right to political participation for all, to avoid having elections that are semi-democratic.”

The electoral board complained in a statement on Monday, April 4, that those comments “affect the electoral system and our image as a nation.” – Rappler.com