Peruvian national election, 2000
Encyclopedia
The 2000 national election in Peru was highly controversial and widely considered to have been fraudulent. President Alberto Fujimori
won the election and a third term in office. However, the election was tainted with allegations of unconstitutionality, bribery, structural bias, and outright electoral fraud
. Alejandro Toledo
boycotted the second round of the election, in which an enormous amount of ballot
s were declared to be invalid. Ultimately, Fujimori called for new elections, fled Peru
, and faxed in his resignation from a hotel in Japan
.
specifically limits presidents to two terms, and Fujimori relied on the legally questionable theory that the restriction did not apply to him in 2000 because the Constitution was written after he nullified the previous constitution
, at which time he was already in power. The electoral bodies, the National Office of Electoral Processes
(ONPE) and National Jury of Elections (Peru)
(JNE), were staffed at the time with Fujimori supporters who were considered by many to be corrupt. These bodies accepted Fujimori's argument.
noted that generals of the Peruvian Army
were removed from their positions if anti-Fujimori protests occurred in their jurisdiction, providing the army with an incentive to crack down on anti-government protesters. A cable from the American embassy to Peru noted that "gigantic pro-Fujimori slogans appeared on the sides of hills within some military reservations and bases. Mostly at night but sometimes in broad daylight, troops have been sighted from Tacna
to Tumbes painting pro-Fujimori slogans and blacking out the slogans of opposition candidates. Military vehicles have been made available to government candidates to transport supplies and people at no charge" and that "routine public works projects" were arraigned "to maximize electoral impact."
Shortly before the election, several people, including JNE workers, were arrested for their part in the theft of ballots. They were caught with the ballots, many of which had been filled out. The plurality of these ballots was filled out with votes for Fujimori and his electoral allies.
(OAS) established a "mesa" dialogue process (Mesa de Dialogo). The Mesa "filled the institutional vacuum caused by the polarization of political forces in Peru following the May 2000 elections. It became the locus of authoritative decisionmaking power during the final days of the Fujimori government, preparing the way for the Peruvian opposition to win control of the congress and to form an interim government." The dialogue was facilitated by a former foreign minister from the Dominican Republic
, Eduardo Latorre, supported by a small OAS secretariat. The Mesa had eighteen participants and "deliberately incorporated three key sets of actors: government ministers, progovernment and opposition members of congress, and civil society representatives."
Alejandro Toledo and his Peru Posible political party were initially reluctant to engage in the Mesa, initially considering the OAS mission an attempt to prop up the Fujimori regime. Not wanting to either engage fully with the OAS mission or be isolated from the Mesa completely, Toledo remained at the edge of the process, allowing others to be directly involved in the negotiations, including Luis Solari. Toledo focussed instead on international media appearances and organising large demonstrations.
In the latter part of 2000 a series of dramatic events brought the dialogue potential of the Mesa into the foreground. On 14 September a videotape was broadcast showing security chief Vladimiro Montesinos
bribing opposition congressman Alberto Kouri to join Fujimori's congressional coalition. This prompted Fujimori to announce new elections and dismiss Montesinos. Further shocks followed, with Montesinos appearing in Panama to seek asylum, and then returning to Peru on 23 October, "creating fear of an imminent coup." Finally, on 20 November Fujimori faxed his resignation from Japan.
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...
won the election and a third term in office. However, the election was tainted with allegations of unconstitutionality, bribery, structural bias, and outright electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
. Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Toledo
Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique is a politician who was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in April 2001, defeating former President Alan García...
boycotted the second round of the election, in which an enormous amount of ballot
Ballot
A ballot is a device used to record choices made by voters. Each voter uses one ballot, and ballots are not shared. In the simplest elections, a ballot may be a simple scrap of paper on which each voter writes in the name of a candidate, but governmental elections use pre-printed to protect the...
s were declared to be invalid. Ultimately, Fujimori called for new elections, fled Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
, and faxed in his resignation from a hotel in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.
Constitutional issues
The Constitution of PeruConstitution of Peru
The Constitution of Peru is the supreme law of Peru. The current constitution, enacted on December 31, 1993, is Peru's fifth in the 20th century and replaced the 1979 Constitution....
specifically limits presidents to two terms, and Fujimori relied on the legally questionable theory that the restriction did not apply to him in 2000 because the Constitution was written after he nullified the previous constitution
Peruvian Constitutional Crisis of 1992
The 1992 Peruvian constitutional crisis, also known as the Autogolpe of 1992 was a constitutional crisis that occurred in Peru in 1992, after President Alberto Fujimori dissolved the Congress of Peru and assumed full legislative powers.-Background:...
, at which time he was already in power. The electoral bodies, the National Office of Electoral Processes
National Office of Electoral Processes
The National Office of Electoral Processes is the body in charge of organizing elections in Peru. Created in 1993, during the government of Alberto Fujimori, it is headquartered in the Jesús María District in Lima...
(ONPE) and National Jury of Elections (Peru)
National Jury of Elections (Peru)
The National Jury of Elections of Peru is an autonomous constitutional organism, headquartered in Lima. Its goal is to oversee the legality of electoral processes, guaranteeing the respect for the population's will...
(JNE), were staffed at the time with Fujimori supporters who were considered by many to be corrupt. These bodies accepted Fujimori's argument.
Structural bias
Many observers believed that the government structures were set up in a way that gave Fujimori's re-election bid an unfair advantage. For example, the United States Department of StateUnited States Department of State
The United States Department of State , is the United States federal executive department responsible for international relations of the United States, equivalent to the foreign ministries of other countries...
noted that generals of the Peruvian Army
Peruvian Army
The Peruvian Army is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions include assistance in safeguarding internal security, conducting disaster relief operations...
were removed from their positions if anti-Fujimori protests occurred in their jurisdiction, providing the army with an incentive to crack down on anti-government protesters. A cable from the American embassy to Peru noted that "gigantic pro-Fujimori slogans appeared on the sides of hills within some military reservations and bases. Mostly at night but sometimes in broad daylight, troops have been sighted from Tacna
Tacna
- Rail :Tacna is served by a cross-border standard gauge railway to Arica, Chile.It is also the location of the National Railway Museum of Peru.-Air:Tacna is served by the Crnl. FAP...
to Tumbes painting pro-Fujimori slogans and blacking out the slogans of opposition candidates. Military vehicles have been made available to government candidates to transport supplies and people at no charge" and that "routine public works projects" were arraigned "to maximize electoral impact."
Fraud
The elections were also marred with accusations of outright fraud. During the campaign, El Comercio broke a story about a "fábrica de firmas" (signature factory) in which many people worked signing a petition to register a pro-Fujimori political party. Several of the people involved admitted to their part in this scheme. Perhaps most damning, they had copied the signatures of voters from official ONPE voter-registration lists, which were provided to them.Shortly before the election, several people, including JNE workers, were arrested for their part in the theft of ballots. They were caught with the ballots, many of which had been filled out. The plurality of these ballots was filled out with votes for Fujimori and his electoral allies.
Boycott
After Fujimori was declared the victor of the first round, Alejandro Toledo called for a boycott of the second round. Fujimori responded by reminding voters that Peruvian law makes voting obligatory, and that anyone boycotting the election could be fined. Toledo then suggested that his supporters to cast spoiled ballots. The result was that while votes for Toledo declined from 40.24% of the valid votes cast in the first round to 25.67% of the valid votes in the second round, invalid votes jumped from 2.25% in of the total votes cast in the first round to 29.93% of total votes in the second round. That such a large percentage of votes were thrown out as invalid shows that many Peruvians took Toledo's advice and deliberately spoiled their ballots.OAS process
Following the election the Organization of American StatesOrganization of American States
The Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
(OAS) established a "mesa" dialogue process (Mesa de Dialogo). The Mesa "filled the institutional vacuum caused by the polarization of political forces in Peru following the May 2000 elections. It became the locus of authoritative decisionmaking power during the final days of the Fujimori government, preparing the way for the Peruvian opposition to win control of the congress and to form an interim government." The dialogue was facilitated by a former foreign minister from the Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...
, Eduardo Latorre, supported by a small OAS secretariat. The Mesa had eighteen participants and "deliberately incorporated three key sets of actors: government ministers, progovernment and opposition members of congress, and civil society representatives."
Alejandro Toledo and his Peru Posible political party were initially reluctant to engage in the Mesa, initially considering the OAS mission an attempt to prop up the Fujimori regime. Not wanting to either engage fully with the OAS mission or be isolated from the Mesa completely, Toledo remained at the edge of the process, allowing others to be directly involved in the negotiations, including Luis Solari. Toledo focussed instead on international media appearances and organising large demonstrations.
In the latter part of 2000 a series of dramatic events brought the dialogue potential of the Mesa into the foreground. On 14 September a videotape was broadcast showing security chief Vladimiro Montesinos
Vladimiro Montesinos
Vladimiro Ilyich Montesinos Torres was the long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional , under President Alberto Fujimori. In 2000, secret videos, which he had recorded, were televised that showed his bribing an elected congressman to leave the opposition...
bribing opposition congressman Alberto Kouri to join Fujimori's congressional coalition. This prompted Fujimori to announce new elections and dismiss Montesinos. Further shocks followed, with Montesinos appearing in Panama to seek asylum, and then returning to Peru on 23 October, "creating fear of an imminent coup." Finally, on 20 November Fujimori faxed his resignation from Japan.
As these events unfolded, the mesa became increasingly prominent as a parallel congress with de facto political decisionmaking power. In the institutional void created by congressional deadlock and political power struggles, few other nonviolent choices existed. As events during September and October led increasingly to a showdown between Fujimori and Montesinos, the former displayed a greater willingness to agree to political reforms in exchange for support from the OAS and the Peruvian political representatives assembled at the mesa. Despite all of the suspicions harbored by the opposition, the mesa remained a useful fallback option and a buffer against the threat of military disruption."
Results
| Candidate | Party | 1st Round | 2nd Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alberto Fujimori Alberto Fujimori Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of... | Perú 2000 Peru 2000 Peru 2000 was a Right-wing, political party in Peru that fielded candidates in the 2000 elections in Peru. Alberto Fujimori and his political allies ran on the Peru 2000 ticket.... | 5 528 394 | 6 041 685 |
| Alejandro Toledo Alejandro Toledo Alejandro Celestino Toledo Manrique is a politician who was President of Peru from 2001 to 2006. He was elected in April 2001, defeating former President Alan García... | Perú Posible Peru Possible Possible Peru is a Peruvian political party. It was founded in 1994 by Alejandro Toledo with the original name of País Posible .... | 4 460 812 | 2 086 215 |
| Alberto Andrade Alberto Andrade Alberto Manuel Andrade Carmona was a Peruvian politician, born in Lima and mayor of that city from 1996 to 2002.... | Somos Perú We Are Peru Democratic Party We Are Peru is a political party in Peru.At the last legislative elections, held on 8 April 2001, the party won 5.8% of the popular vote and 4 out of 120 seats in the unicameral Congress of the Republic. The party did not take part in the 2006 elections.-External links:*... | 333 049 | |
| Federico Salas Federico Salas Luis Federico Salas Guevara Schultz is a Peruvian politician. He was the 49th Prime Minister of Peru in 2000, under President Alberto Fujimori.- Biography :Federico Salas was born in Lima on September 4, 1950... | Avancemos | 246 781 | |
| Luis Castañeda Lossio Luis Castañeda Lossio Óscar Luis Castañeda Lossio is a Peruvian politician who was Mayor of Lima, Peru, from 2003 to 2010.-Biography:Castañeda, who was born in Chiclayo and lived in the Casa Castañeda, is the son of Carlos Castañeda Iparraguirre and Ida Lossio. His father is remembered as one of the most important... | Solidaridad Nacional National Solidarity (Peru) National Solidarity is a Peruvian political party. During the 2006 legislative elections the party was part of the Unidad Nacional coalition. Since the 2011 election, it has been part of the National Solidarity Alliance, led by Luis Castañeda.... | 199 813 | |
| Abel Salinas Abel Salinas Abel Salinas Izaguirre is a Peruvian politician. In 1985 under Alan García government he served as Interior Minister, in 1987 as Energy Minister and in 1988 Finance Minister... | APRA American Popular Revolutionary Alliance The Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana is a centre-left Peruvian political party.At the legislative elections held on 9 April 2006, the party won 22.6% of the popular vote and 36 out of 120 seats in the Congress of the Republic... | 152 519 | |
| Raúl Diez Canseco Raúl Diez Canseco Raúl Diez Canseco Terry is a Peruvian businessman and politician. He played a role in bringing international companies such as Kentucky Fried Chicken to Peru. He also founded several educational institutions.... | Acción Popular | 46 509 | |
| Máximo San Román | Unión por el Perú Union for Peru Union for Peru is a Peruvian political party. UPP was founded by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, ex UN Secretary General, in 1994. UPP was originally a liberal or centrist political party.... | 36 541 | |
| Others | 80 099 | ||
| Blank | 708 603 | 140 773 | |
| Invalid | 271 308 | 3 531 637 |