Former president leads Peru voting Bitter campaign marred by violence, name-calling
Monday, June 5, 2006; Posted: 6:07 a.m. EDT (10:07 GMT)
LIMA, Peru (CNN) -- Former Peruvian president Alan Garcia is leading a runoff election, staging a political comeback after his previous administration ended in economic ruin and unrest.
With nearly 84 percent of the ballots counted early Monday, Garcia led with 54.7 percent of the vote to 45.3 percent for Ollanta Humala, according results from the National Electoral Process Office.
If the results of Sunday's voting hold up, it would make official a political comeback for Garcia after his previous administration ended in economic ruin, rebel violence and accusations of rights abuses.
Peruvian citizens said they believed voting for Garcia was choosing the lesser of two evils in a race with Humala, a leftist former coup leader who campaigned for closer ties with the government of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.
Garcia, a socialist, led Peru from 1985 to 1990. The country was hit hard by inflation that topped 7,500 percent a year during his term, and he went into self-imposed exile after leaving office.
Although Garcia was initially in the lead, electoral officials reminded citizens a margin of error often means exit poll results were not completely accurate.
Despite warnings that exit polls are sometimes inaccurate, many Garcia supporters were seen celebrating in the streets of Lima.
Interior Minister Romulo Pizarro reported calm throughout the country and said the election has gone well, despite earlier minor incidents.
Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo has asked both candidates to accept and respect the results.
The bitterly fought election has included street clashes and virulent exchanges of slurs, including from President Chavez, who exacerbated the ill will by vigorously endorsing Humala and calling Garcia a crook, The Associated Press reported.
At one point, Garcia was hit in the face by an egg, leaving a nasty bruise. The attack, in the highland city of Cuzco, a stronghold for Humala, was followed hours later by a shootout involving supporters of the two rivals.
In the final days of campaigning, election observers from the Organization of American States urged the two campaigns to tone down the rhetoric and avoid violence.
Humala, a retired military man like Chavez, has spooked upper- and middle-class Peruvians by attacking the established parties as corrupt and unresponsive to the needs of the poor. He had vowed to write a new constitution stripping them of power.
Garcia, 57, adroitly turned the race into a referendum on the Chavez factor, depicting Humala as an aspiring despot who would fall into lockstep with the Venezuelan's populist economics and Cuba-friendly anti-Americanism.
He has labeled Chavez, who is rolling in petrodollars from record-high oil prices, as "a midget dictator with a big wallet." Chavez in turn has called Garcia "a genuine thief, a demagogue, a liar."
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