Left wing candidates head to head in second round of Peruvian presidential elections

Peru goes to the polls today in a second round of presidential elections which will see two left wing candidates pitched against each other.

The elimination of conservative Lourdes Flores in the first round of voting leaves electors the choice between social democratic continuity, offered by former President Alan Garcia and Venezuelan style radical nationalism, the project of ex army commander Ollanta Humala. The final opinion polls before the start of voting gave a slight advantage to Garcia. He was president of Peru between 1985 and 1990 and although his term of office is largely remembered for leaving the country in dire economic straights, he’s now repositioned himself as the voice of moderate reform. Humala promises revolution in favour of the country’s poor; he came top in the first round of voting, but will need to widen his support base if he’s to repeat his success in the second round runoff.

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