Word: peru
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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President Alberto Fujimori's decision to accept a runoff election has walked his country back from the brink, but he's no quitter - and that suggests Peru may be in for a turbulent couple of months. The runoff was announced late Wednesday after electoral officials reported that Fujimori had narrowly failed to achieve a majority in a poll tainted by charges of vote-rigging. But that announcement may be a reflection that the president has been feeling foreign and domestic pressure over charges that he was stealing the election...
...America bureau chief Tim McGirk. "He came under considerable pressure from the United States, the European Union and the Organization of American States to accept a second-round runoff in light of widespread allegations of electoral fraud. And there were tens of thousands of people in the streets of Peru's major cities, vowing to fight any attempt to claim a first-round victory...
...Toledo, who is of indigenous Indian heritage, may also have an advantage in his own rags-to-riches story. Some 45 percent of Peru's 25 million people are Indian, and a further 37 percent are of Mestizo (mixed) heritage. "Peru's politics have traditionally pitched a white oligarchy against the indigenous and Mestizo masses," says McGirk. "But Fujimori wasn't a member of the traditional elite, either. In the end, it may be a combination of Toledo's impoverished background and the fact that he's a respected economist that gives voters hope that he'll be able...
Boris Yeltsin must envy Alberto Fujimori his youth. While the Russian was forced by age and infirmity to give up on the dream, Fujimori has succeeded in conjuring up a third presidential bid even though his constitution only allows two. But Peru's voters didn't play along in Sunday's election, denying Fujimori a majority and forcing him into a runoff against Alejandro Toledo, a liberal economist whose support stood at only 4 percent some four weeks ago. Lima was wracked by protests Monday as Toledo supporters marched on the presidential palace accusing Fujimori of rigging the polls...
...initial election - and had congress dismiss three constitutional court judges who challenged this interpretation. "His critics also say that in order to be reelected, he's put the brakes on economic reforms and veered toward populism," says TIME Latin American bureau chief Tim McGirk. "More than one third of Peru's population now receives daily meals and milk from the government." And that dependency also creates political power, with numerous reports of villagers being threatened with losing government support if they vote for the opposition. When the election season began, state-controlled media and pro-Fujimori tabloids relentlessly smeared...