If there is one thing to learn from Peruvian electoral processes is that nothing is certain. Peruvian presidential elections since the transition to civilian rule in 1980 have historically been distinguished by their uncertainty and unpredictability.
It was more than surprising, even ironic, that in 1980 the first civilian presidential elections held after 12 years of military rule brought back into power the same person that was ousted by the military in 1968. Fernando Belaunde Terry from the Popular Action Party was elected president in 1980 and ruled until 1985 when new presidential elections marked another exceptional notch in Peruvian political history. After more than 60 years of existence, mass-base political party APRA was finally able to govern directly when its candidate Alan Garcia was elected president in 1985.
The April 1990 presidential elections did not fall short from fulfilling the unpredictable character of previous electoral processes. Obtaining a miserly 2 to 3 percent in polls a month before elections, university rector Alberto Fugimori, called ?El Chino? due to his Japanese ancestry, was able to captured 24% of the electorate. Since the constitution requires the winner to obtain a majority vote (50 + 1), Fugimori went to a second round against heavily favored and renowned writer Mario Vargas Llosa who had obtained 26% of the vote. On the second round, Fugimori easily received the majority of the votes surprising the world.
After 10 years of autocratic rule by Fugimori, Peru once again saw the rise of an unknown candidate in the 2000 presidential elections. Alejandro Toledo, ?El Cholo? as he is commonly called, climbed steadily in the polls and was able to receive sufficient votes in order to send the process to a second round. Fugimori was declared the winner on the second round when Toledo surprisingly dropped his candidacy as a symbol of protest to Fugimori?s alleged electoral fraud during the first round of elections. The political crisis (prompted by corruption charges against Fugimori and his right hand man Vladimir Montesinos) that engulfed Peru several months after the elections led to the impeachment of Fugimori and a call for new elections scheduled for April 8, 2001.
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