2006 Peruvian general election explained

Country:Peru
Flag Year:state
Type:presidential
Previous Election:2001 Peruvian general election
Previous Year:2001
Next Election:2011 Peruvian general election
Next Year:2011
Module:
Embed:yes
Election Name:Presidential election
Type:presidential
Election Date:9 April 2006 (first round)
4 June 2006 (second round)
Image1:Alan García presidente del Perú.jpg
Nominee1:Alan García
Party1:American Popular Revolutionary Alliance
Running Mate1:Luis Giampietri
Popular Vote1:6,965,017
Percentage1:52.63%
Nominee2:Ollanta Humala
Party2:Union for Peru
Running Mate2:
Popular Vote2:6,270,080
Percentage2:47.37%
President
Before Election:Alejandro Toledo
Before Party:Possible Peru
After Election:Alan García
After Party:American Popular Revolutionary Alliance
Module:
Embed:yes
Election Date:9 April 2006
Election Name:Congressional election
Seats For Election:All 120 seats in Congress
Majority Seats:61
Leader1:Ollanta Humala
Party1:Union for Peru
Color1:
  1. D8242A
Percentage1:21.15
Last Election1:6
Seats1:45
Leader2:Alan García
Party2:American Popular Revolutionary Alliance
Last Election2:28
Seats2:36
Percentage2:20.59
Leader3:Lourdes Flores
Party3:National Unity
Color3:
  1. 008000
Percentage3:15.33
Last Election3:17
Seats3:17
Leader4:Martha Chávez
Party4:AF2006
Color4:
  1. FFA500
Last Election4:3
Seats4:13
Percentage4:13.09
Party5:Center Front
Leader5:Valentín Paniagua
Color5:
  1. 989898
Last Election5:4
Seats5:5
Percentage5:7.07
Leader6:Alejandro Toledo
Party6:Possible Peru
Last Election6:45
Seats6:2
Percentage6:4.11
Leader7:Humberto Lay Sun
Color7:
  1. 9370DB
Last Election7:New
Seats7:2
Percentage7:4.02
Map:Elecciones parlamentarias de Perú de 2006 - Resultados.svg

General elections were held in Peru in on 9 April 2006 to elect the President, two Vice-Presidents, 120 members of Congress and five members of the Andean Parliament for the 2006–2011 period. As the no presidential candidate received a majority of the vote, a second round was held on 4 June between the top two candidates, Ollanta Humala and Alan García. Garcia won the run-off with 52.63% to Humala's 47.37%. He was subsequently inaugurated on 28 July 2006, Peruvian Independence Day.

Electoral system

The 120 members of Congress were elected from 25 constituencies based on the 24 departments and the Constitutional Province of Callao). The number of seats in Congress for each district was determined by its number of eligible voters. A political party need to win a minimum of five seats in two electoral districts or 4% of nationwide valid votes in order to be represented in Congress.

A minimum of 4% of nationwide valid votes was necessary for a party to win seats in the Andean Parliament.

Candidates

Presidential tickets

Political party or electoral allianceCandidates
Namefor Presidentfor 1st Vice-presidentfor 2nd Vice-president
Alliance for Progress
Alianza para el Progreso
Natale AmprimoCésar AcuñaJulia Valenzuela
Alliance for the Future
Alianza por el Futuro
Martha ChávezSantiago FujimoriRolando Sousa
And It's Called Peru
Y se llama Perú
Ricardo WongErnesto D'AngeloJosé del Carmen Sifuentes
Andean Renaissance
Renacimiento Andino
Ciro GálvezPatricia MarimónCarmen Casani
Center Front
Frente de Centro
Valentín PaniaguaAlberto AndradeGonzalo Aguirre
Decentralization Coalition
Concertación Descentralista
Susana VillaránNery SaldarriagaCarlos Paredes
Democratic Force
Fuerza Democrática
Alberto BoreaMarco FalconíYván Vásquez
Democratic Reconstruction
Reconstrucción Democrática
José Cardó GuarderasMarco Antonio AlcaldeJuana Avellaneda
Go On Country
Avanza País
Ulises Humala TassoPedro CenasConstante Traverso Flores
Let's Make Progress Peru
Progresemos Perú
Javier EspinozaManuel Yto SeguilAgustín Quezada Sánchez
National Justice
Justicia Nacional
Jaime SalinasJosé Carlos Luque OteroAna María Villafuerte
National Restoration
Restauración Nacional
Humberto Lay SunMáximo San RománMaría Eugenia de la Puente
National Unity
Unidad Nacional
Lourdes Flores NanoArturo WoodmanLuis Enrique Carpio
New Left Movement
Movimiento Nueva Izquierda *
Alberto MorenoJuan José GorritiAlejandro Narváez
Peru Now
Perú Ahora
Luis GuerreroVíctor EchegarayAndrés Alcántara
Peruvian Aprista Party
Partido Aprista Peruano
Alan GarcíaLuis Giampietri RojasLourdes Mendoza
Peruvian Resurgence
Resurgimiento Peruano
Ántero AstoCarlos BentínRoberto Pineda
Socialist Party
Partido Socialista
Javier Diez CansecoMaría HuamánAlberto Quintanilla
Union for Peru
Unión por el Perú
Ollanta HumalaGonzalo García NúñezCarlos Torres Caro
With Force Peru
Con Fuerza Perú
Pedro Koechlin Von SteinWalter Vera TudelaMaría Jesús Espinoza

* Ticket officially registered under MNI, which enjoyed previous registration as a political party, but nominated by Broad Left Front (Frente Amplio de Izquierda).

Voluntarily Withdrawn Tickets
Political partyCandidateWithdrawal
Namefor Presidentfor 1st Vice-presidentfor 2nd Vice-presidentDateMotive
Peru Possible
Perú Posible
Rafael BelaúndeCarlos BruceRómulo Mucho MamaniJanuary 31Clash over party's congressional candidate list
Independent Moralizing Front
Frente Independiente Moralizador
Fernando OliveraFausto AlvaradoLuis Iberico NúñezFebruary 8Olivera to lead party's congressional candidate list
Project Country
Proyecto País
Marco Antonio ArrunáteguiElías EspinozaMaría Teresa GarcíaFebruary 8Arrunátegui to lead party's congressional candidate list

Congress

24 parties presented up to 130 candidates to Congress each, for a total of 2,918 candidates. 331 of these were rejected by the National Jury of Elections, leaving 2,587 candidates. These represent all parties with presidential candidates, plus Possible Peru, Independent Moralizing Front, Project Country, and Agricultural People's Front of Peru (Frente Popular Agrícola del Perú, FREPAP). Sí Cumple did not register any candidates.

The table below shows the breakdown of candidates by Electoral District. Votes by 457,891 Peruvians residing abroad were counted in the Lima Electoral District (the number of voters in the table includes them).

Electoral DistrictRegistered votersSeats in CongressCandidates per partyParticipating partiesTotal candidates
179,331231747
611,881552199
195,954232155
770,5355521101
306,662332058
721,2395523109
Callao541,730442492
643,629552298
203,844231539
354,416332265
451,197452288
701,190552299
942,6567722145
676,7355522101
6,063,109353524738
416,419332260
47,742131435
99,962231844
135,670231751
914,9126623136
674,8655523106
357,124331747
172,427231857
110,335231957
201,342232260
Nationwide16,494,90612013014-242,587

Andean Parliament

A total of 21 parties nominated 15 candidates for the Andean Parliament each, for a total of 315 candidates. 73 candidates were rejected by the National Jury of Elections, leaving 242 candidates from 19 parties. Participating parties include all those with Congressional candidates, except And It's Called Peru, Decentralization Coalition, Democratic Force, FREPAP and Let's Make Progress Peru.

Campaign

Main presidential candidates

Other candidates

Presidential debate

The only official presidential debate was held on May 21, 2006 between Ollanta Humala and Alan García, with journalist Augusto Álvarez Rodrich as moderator, in the National Museum of Archaeology. There were no debates before the first round.

Humala arrived late, so García started the debate on his own, claiming that his opponent had "stopped at a bar for a sandwich" and accusing him of having "no respect for the country". Humala accused Aprista supporters of delaying his arrival.

Álvarez Rodrich asked Humala to remove a small Peruvian flag on his podium before his first intervention, in order to have equitative images for both contenders. The candidate refused, saying that the national symbol was nothing to be ashamed about and arguing that the debate arrangements did not forbid using it, leading the moderator to withdraw the flag himself.

The Union for Peru candidate attacked García's position on a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States as "ambiguous"; said that Vladimiro Montesinos would evidently vote for his opponent (since the former intelligence chief had recently claimed that Humala's uprising in 2001 had been staged as a distraction for his escape from the country); reminded the audience of a tape showing Montesinos bribing former Peruvian Aprista Party Secretary-General Agustín Mantilla; alluded to a paramilitary group that operated during García's presidency; promised not to receive his salary if he got elected, but only his payments as a retired Lieutenant Colonel; proposed the formation of a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution on the basis of its 1979 version; and suggested the possibility of reopening a penitentiary, where corrupt government officials and "ex-presidents" would be sent, in a tacit attack at García.

García called Humala a "demagogue" for promising to lower fuel prices by 30 percent; reminded his opponent of his earnings as a military attaché in France and South Korea; called on Humala for asking García to clarify whether he would free Montesinos or not, saying that such decision would concern the Judiciary branch anyway and that pretending to take such powers would be undemocratic, "in the style of (Hugo) Chávez"; indirectly pointed to Humala's support of his brother Antauro's 2005 rebellion, leading to the death of four policemen; and promised to enforce the payment of extra hours, stop arbitrary employment terminations and change some aspects of pension systems.

The media and political analysts described the debate mostly as "boring" and centered on personal attacks, with García not delivering a decisive victory, despite his much greater political experience. https://web.archive.org/web/20060623091040/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/026942.php https://web.archive.org/web/20060623091054/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/026943.php Opinion polls in Metropolitan Lima and Callao gave García a clear victory over Humala, though these were anti-Humala strongholds throughout the campaign. https://web.archive.org/web/20070511230028/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/027179.phphttps://web.archive.org/web/20071116180251/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/026975.phphttps://web.archive.org/web/20060909221601/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/026971.php

A debate between the technical teams of both candidates was held on May 28 in the Museum of the Nation.

Highlights

Opinion polls

See main article: Opinion polling for the 2006 Peruvian general election.

Results

Congress

Union for Peru obtained 45 out of 120 seats in Congress, more than any other party, but still shy of an absolute majority, despite victories in 16 of 25 Electoral Districts. The Peruvian Aprista Party got the most votes in six Districts and took 36 seats. National Unity obtained 17 seats and a local victory in Lima; Alliance for the Future took 13 seats and won in Pasco; Center Front got 5 seats; ruling party Possible Peru only got 2, after being the stronger party in the 2001-2006 period; and National Restoration took the remaining 2 seats, as well as most votes in Madre de Dios. The latter two obtained barely above the minimum 4% of valid votes nationwide for Congress representation.

The strongholds for the three main parties were essentially the same as in the presidential election: the southern Andes for Union for Peru, the northern-central coast for the Peruvian Aprista Party, and Lima (plus voters abroad, which counted as part of this Electoral District) for National Unity.

Former President Alberto Fujimori's daughter Keiko, of Alliance for the Future, obtained 602,869 votes, the highest individual voting nationwide (though it should be taken into account that she ran in Lima, the Electoral District with, by far, the largest electorate). She was followed by Carlos Bruce of Possible Peru, a former Minister of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, with 193,374.

The most voted candidate of the party with the most votes presides over the preparatory board for the installation of the new Congress. However, this corresponded to Carlos Torres Caro, Union for Peru's candidate for Second Vice-President, who, along with Gustavo Espinoza and Rocío González resigned from the party following the second round, arguing that Humala's approach to their role as an opposition party was too violent. The three incoming Members of Congress presented the new Peruvian Democratic Party on 26 June. https://web.archive.org/web/20060715124337/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/028492.php

Center Front, Possible Peru and National Restoration agreed to formally create a joint group in Congress with their 9 members, under the name of the first party. https://web.archive.org/web/20060819003752/http://weblogs.elearning.ubc.ca/peru/archives/028169.php This new group was the only one without representation in the multi-partisan Directive Board of the new Congress, led by the Peruvian Aprista Party's Mercedes Cabanillas as president.

By region

Electoral DistrictUPPPAPUNAFFCPPRNTotal
112
2215
22
3115
33
21115
Callao1214
415
22
213
1214
21115
1517
12115
678832135
1113
11
112
112
2316
3115
1113
112
112
112
Total45361713522120

Andean Parliament

Only the three main parties obtained representation in the Andean Parliament, with Union for Peru and the Peruvian Aprista Party obtaining 2 seats (plus 4 substitutes) each, and National Unity getting one seat (and two substitutes). Union for Peru got the most votes, with 24.0% of the valid ballots. Congressman Rafael Rey of National Unity obtained the most individual votes, with 611,638, after which he announced his own and his party National Renewal's departure from the coalition.

External links