Peruvian Elections: First Round Over

Ollanta Humala, the radical nactionalist, clearly won the first round. The big question now is who will be in the run-offs with him: Lourdes Flores or Alan Garcia? According to the lastest results with 71% of the returns in, the following are the top three finalists:

• Ollanta Humala - 29.19%
  
• Lourdes Flores - 25.29%
  
• Alan Garcia - 24.98%

The director of Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales (ONPE, in English: Electorial Process National Office) has said that it will probably take 20 days until they know 100% of the results.

In my last blog entry, I did not mention anything about Alan Garcia because I did not think he would do as well as he has done. In his thirties, he was the president of Peru from 1980 to 1990. During his administration he took out many foreign loans that Peru could not pay back. So we the foreign collectors demanded payment, the economy collapsed. Peru suffered some of the worst economic times under Garcia. For example inflation went out the roof, all bank accounts froze for several months, and people had to stand in line for hours just to get milk. It was also during this time that the Shinning Path came to power, sparking a terroristic war that took 70,000 lives. Many think Garcia is nuts for running again, but obviously his charismatic speaking abilities has cast a spell over many of the populous.

Last Sunday we were shocked that most the churches were closed for worship. The Peruvian govenment bans all meetings of any sort 48 hours before a presidential election, that includes all houses of worship. After visiting three different churches in our Sunday's best, God gave us a wake up call. Obviously the people value election day more than the Lord's Day. A good reminder why we are here!

The runoff between Ollanta Humala and the second place runner will take place in the next few months.