Peruvian general election, 2006

Peruvian general election, 2006

2001 ←
April 9, 2006 (2006-04-09)
(First Round)
June 4, 2006 (2006-06-04)
(Second Round)

→ 2011

 
Nominee Alan García Ollanta Humala
Party APRA UPP
Popular vote 6,963,849 6,269,636
Percentage 52.62% 47.38%

Geographic distribution of Second Round votes, by winning candidate.

President before election

Alejandro Toledo
Perú Posible

Elected President

Alan García
APRA

The first round of the 2006 Peruvian national election was held on April 9, 2006 to elect the President of the Republic, two Vice-Presidents, 120 Members of Congress, and five Peruvian members of the Andean Parliament (plus 10 substitutes), for the 2006-2011 period.

No single presidential ticket obtained more than half of the total valid votes thus leading to a runoff election held on June 4, 2006 between the two candidates with most votes, Ollanta Humala and Alan García. Garcia won the election with 52.62% to Humala's 47.37% making Garcia the President-elect of Peru. The president-elect was inaugurated on 28 July 2006, on Peruvian National Day.

The Congressional election made use of 25 Electoral Districts (Peru's 24 departments and the Constitutional Province of Callao). The number of seats in Congress for each district was determined by its number of eligible voters. A political party need to win a minimum of five seats in two electoral districts or 4% of nationwide valid votes in order to be represented in Congress.

Like the presidential and vice-presidential election, the Andean Parliament election did not use Electoral Districts, using nationwide votes instead. A minimum of 4% of nationwide valid votes was necessary for a party to get any representation in the Andean Parliament.

"Valid votes" only include votes correctly issued for exactly one candidate. Hence, blank ballots, multiple-candidate votes or incorrect markings did not affect the overall results, functioning at most as political statements.

The National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil, RENIEC) was in charge of registering eligible voters; the National Office of Electoral Processes (Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales, ONPE) organized the election; and the National Jury of Elections (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, JNE) made any rulings concerning the election, including the proclamation of official results.

Contents

Candidates

Presidential tickets

Political party or electoral alliance Candidates
Name for President for 1st Vice-president for 2nd Vice-president
Alliance for Progress
Alianza para el Progreso
Natale Amprimo Plá César Acuña Peralta Julia Valenzuela Cuéllar
Alliance for the Future
Alianza por el Futuro
Martha Chávez Cossio Santiago Fujimori Fujimori Rolando Sousa Huanambal
And It's Called Peru
Y se llama Perú
Ricardo Wong Kuoman Ernesto Martín D'Angelo José del Carmen Sifuentes Zelaya
Andean Renaissance
Renacimiento Andino
Ciro Alfredo Gálvez Patricia Pilar Marimón Carmen Casani Barbachán
Center Front
Frente de Centro
Valentín Paniagua Corazao Alberto Andrade Carmona Gonzalo Aguirre Arriz
Decentralization Coalition
Concertación Descentralista
Susana Villarán de la Puente Nery Saldarriaga de Kroll Carlos Paredes Gonzales
Democratic Force
Fuerza Democrática
Alberto Borea Odría Marco Tulio Falconí Iván Vásquez Valera
Democratic Reconstruction
Reconstrucción Democrática
José Cardó Guarderas Marco Antonio Alcalde Sánchez Juana Avellaneda Soto
Go On Country
Avanza País
Ulises Humala Tasso Pedro Cenas Casamayor Constante Traverso Flores
Let's Make Progress Peru
Progresemos Perú
Javier Espinoza Ayaipoma Manuel Yto Seguil Agustín Quezada Sánchez
National Justice
Justicia Nacional
Jaime Salinas López Torres José Carlos Luque Otero Ana María Villafuerte
National Restoration
Restauración Nacional
Humberto Lay Sun Máximo San Román Cáceres María Eugenia De la Puente
National Unity
Unidad Nacional
Lourdes Flores Nano Arturo Woodman Luis Enrique Carpio
New Left Movement
Movimiento Nueva Izquierda *
Alberto Moreno Rojas del Río Juan José Gorriti Valle Alejandro Narváez Liceras
Peru Now
Perú Ahora
Luis Guerrero Figueroa Víctor Echegaray Pintado Andrés Avelino Alcántara
Peruvian Aprista Party
Partido Aprista Peruano
Alan García Pérez Luis Giampietri Rojas Lourdes Mendoza del Solar
Peruvian Resurgence
Resurgimiento Peruano
Ántero Asto Flores Carlos Arturo Bentín Guedes Roberto Luis Pineda Cuéllar
Socialist Party
Partido Socialista
Javier Diez Canseco María Huamán Valladares Alberto Eugenio Quintanilla
Union for Peru
Unión por el Perú
Ollanta Humala Tasso Gonzalo García Núñez Carlos Alberto Torres Caro
With Force Peru
Con Fuerza Perú
Pedro Koechlin Von Stein Walter Vera Tudela María Jesús Espinoza

* Ticket officially registered under MNI, which enjoyed previous registration as a political party, but nominated by Broad Left Front (Frente Amplio de Izquierda).

Tickets rejected by the Special Electoral Jury (Jurado Electoral Especial)
Political party Candidate Rejection
Name for President for 1st Vice-president for 2nd Vice-president Date Motive
Sí Cumple Alberto Fujimori Luisa María Cuculiza Germán Kruger January 10 Fujimori banned from holding office until 2011
Voluntarily Withdrawn Tickets
Political party Candidate Withdrawal
Name for President for 1st Vice-president for 2nd Vice-president Date Motive
Peru Possible
Perú Posible
Rafael Belaúnde Aubry Carlos Bruce Montes de Oca Rómulo Mucho Mamani January 31 Clash over party's congressional candidate list
Independent Moralizing Front
Frente Independiente Moralizador
Fernando Olivera Vega Fausto Alvarado Luis Iberico Núñez February 8 Olivera to lead party's congressional candidate list
Project Country
Proyecto País
Marco Antonio Arrunátegui Elías Espinoza del Valle María Teresa García February 8 Arrunátegui to lead party's congressional candidate list

Congress

24 parties presented up to 130 candidates to Congress each, for a total of 2,918 candidates. 331 of these were rejected by the National Jury of Elections, leaving 2,587 candidates. These represent all parties with presidential candidates, plus Peru Possible, Independent Moralizing Front, Project Country, and Agricultural People's Front of Peru (Frente Popular Agrícola FIA del Perú, FREPAP). Sí Cumple did not register any candidates.

The table below shows the breakdown of candidates by Electoral District. Votes by 457,891 Peruvians residing abroad were counted in the Lima Electoral District (the number of voters in the table includes them).

Electoral District Registered voters Seats in Congress Candidates per party Participating parties Total candidates
Amazonas 179,331 2 3 17 47
Ancash 611,881 5 5 21 99
Apurímac 195,954 2 3 21 55
Arequipa 770,535 5 5 21 101
Ayacucho 306,662 3 3 20 58
Cajamarca 721,239 5 5 23 109
Callao 541,730 4 4 24 92
Cusco 643,629 5 5 22 98
Huancavelica 203,844 2 3 15 39
Huánuco 354,416 3 3 22 65
Ica 451,197 4 5 22 88
Junín 701,190 5 5 22 99
La Libertad 942,656 7 7 22 145
Lambayeque 676,735 5 5 22 101
Lima 6,063,109 35 35 24 738
Loreto 416,419 3 3 22 60
Madre de Dios 47,742 1 3 14 35
Moquegua 99,962 2 3 18 44
Pasco 135,670 2 3 17 51
Piura 914,912 6 6 23 136
Puno 674,865 5 5 23 106
San Martín 357,124 3 3 17 47
Tacna 172,427 2 3 18 57
Tumbes 110,335 2 3 19 57
Ucayali 201,342 2 3 22 60
Nationwide 16,494,906 120 130 14-24 2,587

Andean Parliament

A total of 21 parties nominated 15 candidates for the Andean Parliament each, for a total of 315 candidates. 73 candidates were rejected by the National Jury of Elections, leaving 242 candidates from 19 parties. Participating parties include all those with Congressional candidates, except And It's Called Peru, Decentralization Coalition, Democratic Force, FREPAP and Let's Make Progress Peru.

Campaign

Main presidential candidates

Other candidates

Presidential Debate

The only official presidential debate was held on May 21, 2006 between Ollanta Humala and Alan García, with journalist Augusto Álvarez Rodrich as moderator, in the National Museum of Archaeology. There were no debates before the First Round.

Humala arrived late, so García started the debate on his own, claiming that his opponent had "stopped at a bar for a sandwich" and accusing him of having "no respect for the country". Humala accused Aprista supporters of delaying his arrival.

Álvarez Rodrich asked Humala to remove a small Peruvian flag on his podium before his first intervention, in order to have equitative images for both contenders. The candidate refused, saying that the national symbol was nothing to be ashamed about and arguing that the debate arrangements did not forbid using it, leading the moderator to withdraw the flag himself.

The Union for Peru candidate attacked García's position on a bilateral free trade agreement with the United States as "ambiguous"; said that Vladimiro Montesinos would evidently vote for his opponent (since the former intelligence chief had recently claimed that Humala's uprising in 2001 had been staged as a distraction for his escape from the country); reminded the audience of a tape showing Montesinos bribing former Peruvian Aprista Party Secretary-General Agustín Mantilla; alluded to a paramilitary group that operated during García's presidency; promised not to receive his salary if he got elected, but only his payments as a retired Lieutenant Colonel; proposed the formation of a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the Constitution on the basis of its 1979 version; and suggested the possibility of reopening a penitentiary, where corrupt government officials and "ex-presidents" would be sent, in a tacit attack at García.

García called Humala a "demagogue" for promising to lower fuel prices by 30 percent; reminded his opponent of his earnings as a military attaché in France and South Korea; called on Humala for asking García to clarify whether he would free Montesinos or not, saying that such decision would concern the Judiciary branch anyway and that pretending to take such powers would be undemocratic, "in the style of (Hugo) Chávez"; indirectly pointed to Humala's support of his bother Antauro's 2005 rebellion, leading to the death of four policemen; and promised to enforce the payment of extra hours, stop arbitrary employment terminations and change some aspects of pension systems.

The media and political analysts described the debate mostly as "boring" and centered on personal attacks, with García not delivering a decisive victory, despite his much greater political experience. [1] [2] Opinion polls in Metropolitan Lima and Callao gave García a clear victory over Humala, though these were anti-Humala strongholds throughout the campaign. [3] [4] [5]

A debate between the technical teams of both candidates was held on May 28 in the Museum of the Nation.

Highlights

Results

Final official results by the National Office of Electoral Processes, are given below.

Presidential

With 77% of votes counted in the Second Round (runoff) and García ahead of Humala 55.5% to 45.5% respectively, the latter conceded defeat his opponent and congratulated his campaign stating at a news conference, "we recognise the results...and we salute the forces that competed against us, those of Mr Garcia". [30] Final results were closer, but still gave García the victory after getting 52.6% of the valid votes against Humala's 47.4%.

e • d Summary of the 9 April and 4 June 2006 Peruvian presidential election results
Candidates - Parties Votes 1st round % (Valid Votes) Votes 2nd round % (Valid Votes)
Ollanta Humala Tasso - Union for Peru (Unión por el Perú) 3,758,258 30.616 6,270,080 47.375
Alan García Pérez - Peruvian Aprista Party (Partido Aprista Peruano) 2,985,858 24.324 6,965,017 52.625
Lourdes Flores Nano - National Unity (Unidad Nacional) 2,923,280 23.814 - -
Martha Chávez Cossio - Alliance for the Future (Alianza por el Futuro) 912,420 7.433 - -
Valentín Paniagua Corazao - Center Front (Frente de Centro) 706,156 5.753 - -
Humberto Lay Sun - National Restoration (Restauración Nacional) 537,564 4.379 - -
Susana Villarán - Decentralization Coalition (Concertación Descentralista) 76,105 0.620 - -
Jaime Salinas - National Justice (Justicia Nacional) 65,636 0.535 - -
Javier Diez Canseco - Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) 60,955 0.497 - -
Natale Amprimo - Alliance for Progress (Alianza Para el Progreso) 49,332 0.402 - -
Pedro Koechlin Von Stein - With Force Peru (Con Fuerza Perú) 38,212 0.311 - -
Alberto Moreno - New Left Movement (Movimiento Nueva Izquierda) 33,918 0.276 - -
Alberto Borea - Democratic Force (Fuerza Democrática) 24,584 0.200 - -
Ulises Humala - Go On Country (Avanza País) 24,518 0.200 - -
Ciro Gálvez - Andean Renaissance (Renacimiento Andino) 22,892 0.186 - -
Javier Espinoza - Let's Make Progress Peru (Progresemos Perú) 13,965 0.114 - -
José Cardó Guarderas - Democratic Reconstruction (Reconstrucción Democrática) 11,925 0.097 - -
Ántero Asto - Peruvian Resurgence (Resurgimiento Peruano) 10,857 0.088 - -
Ricardo Wong - And It's Called Peru (Y se llama Perú) 10,539 0.086 - -
Luis Guerrero - Peru Now (Perú Ahora) 8,410 0.069 - -
Total valid (Turnout: 1st Round 88.706 %, 2nd Round 87.712 %) 12,275,384 100 13,235,097 100
Blank 1,737,045 11.872 157,863 1.091
Invalid 619,574 4.234 1,075,089 7.431
Source: National Office of Electoral Processes.

First Round

Ollanta Humala obtained local victories in 18 departments and came in first place with 30.6% of valid votes. Alan García, who had been trailing Lourdes Flores in opinion polls for most of the campaign, defeated her by a narrow margin for the second runoff spot, with 24.3% against her 23.8%, much like in the 2001 election.

Support for Humala was weaker in the more densely populated coast and stronger in the more rural Andes and jungle, which prevented him from obtaining a larger advantage and stopped him too far from the 50% needed to avoid a runoff. Humala's stronghold was the southern part of the Andes, one of the poorer and less developed regions of Peru, which appeared to place its hopes on the "outsider" candidate; that is, the one not associated with the traditional political class.

Flores won in the department of Lima and among voters abroad, which together accounted for 36.8% of eligible voters. However, she failed to win elsewhere, while García won in 5 departments along the central and northern coast, as well as Callao, and most decisively in La Libertad, his party's traditional stronghold.

The official vote count progress was very slow and the race for the second place was so tight that Flores did not concede defeat until 3 May, 24 days after the First Round, and questioned the transparency and competence of the electoral authorities.

Second Round (Runoff)

Alan García defeated Ollanta Humala in the Second Round, 52.62% to 47.47%, after apparently capturing most of Lourdes Flores' First Round votes, despite no official endorsement by National Unity. García won in the densely-populated Lima and abroad, and took over Pasco, Tumbes and Ucayali, where Humala had won previously.

Each candidate's strongholds remained the same: the northern and central coast for García, and the southern Andes for Humala. García improved from 16.9% to 68.5% abroad and from 21.8% to 62.0% in Lima, the locations of both of Flores' victories in April. Humala obtained his strongest victory in the region of Ayacucho winning 83.42% to Garcia's 16.57%. Garcia had his greatest margin of victory in La Libertad with 72.54% to Humala's 27.45%. Garcia also won a majority in all of the 43 districts of Lima Province and the 6 districts of Callao. [31]


Congressional

e • d Summary of the 9 April 2006 election results for members of the Congress of the Republic of Peru and Peruvian members of the Andean Parliament
Parties Congress Andean Parliament
Votes % (Valid) Seats Votes % (Valid) Seats Substitutes
Union for Peru (Unión por el Perú)
includes Peruvian Nationalist Party (Partido Nacionalista Peruano)
2,274,739 21.154 45 2,044,862 23.969 2 4
Peruvian Aprista Party (Partido Aprista Peruano) 2,213,562 20.586 36 1,927,834 22.597 2 4
National Unity (Unidad Nacional)
1,648,577 15.331 17 1,812,384 21.244 1 2
Alliance for the Future (Alianza por el Futuro)
1,408,055 13.095 13 793,443 9.300 0 0
Center Front (Frente del Centro)
760,245 7.070 5 479,367 5.619 0 0
Possible Peru (Perú Posible) 441,441 4.105 2 193,685 2.270 0 0
National Restoration (Restauración Nacional) 432,191 4.019 2 435,845 5.109 0 0
Alliance for Progress (Alianza Para el Progreso) 248,437 2.310 0 140,506 1.647 0 0
Independent Moralizing Front (Frente Independiente Moralizador) 156,418 1.455 0 77,514 0.909 0 0
Democratic Force (Fuerza Democrática) 153,435 1.427 0 - - - -
National Justice (Justicia Nacional) 151,163 1.406 0 96,982 1.137 0 0
Socialist Party (Partido Socialista) 134,164 1.248 0 140,092 1.642 0 0
New Left Movement (Movimiento Nueva Izquierda)
member of Broad Left Front (Frente Amplio de Izquierda) coalition
133,102 1.238 0 81,699 0.958 0 0
Go on Country (Avanza País) 122,653 1.141 0 64,220 0.753 0 0
Decentralization Coalition (Concertación Descentralista)
91,783 0.854 0 - - - -
Agricultural People's Front of Peru
(Frente Popular Agrícola FIA del Perú - FREPAP)
85,019 0.791 0 - - - -
Andean Renaissance (Renacimiento Andino) 75,444 0.702 0 53,071 0.622 0 0
With Force Peru (Con Fuerza Perú) 71,383 0.664 0 95,598 1.121 0 0
Peru Now (Perú Ahora) 46,439 0.432 0 24,571 0.288 0 0
Democratic Reconstruction (Reconstrucción Democrática) 28,775 0.268 0 27,397 0.321 0 0
Project Country (Proyecto País) 21,539 0.200 0 20,312 0.238 0 0
Peruvian Resurgence (Resurgimiento Peruano) 20,579 0.191 0 22,055 0.259 0 0
And It's Called Peru (Y se llama Perú) 19,859 0.185 0 - - - -
Let's Make Progress Peru (Progresemos Perú) 13,998 0.130 0 - - - -
Total valid 10,753,000 100 120 8,531,437 100 5 10
Blank 1,682,753 11.543 4,133,224 28.261
Invalid 2,117,929 14.792 1,960,563 13.405
Source: National Office of Electoral Processes

Union for Peru obtained 45 out of 120 seats in Congress, more than any other party, but still shy of an absolute majority, despite victories in 16 of 25 Electoral Districts. The Peruvian Aprista Party got the most votes in six Districts and took 36 seats. National Unity obtained 17 seats and a local victory in Lima; Alliance for the Future took 13 seats and won in Pasco; Center Front got 5 seats; ruling party Peru Possible only got 2, after being the stronger party in the 2001-2006 period; and National Restoration took the remaining 2 seats, as well as most votes in Madre de Dios. The latter two obtained barely above the minimum 4% of valid votes nationwide for Congress representation.

The strongholds for the three main parties were essentially the same as in the presidential election: the southern Andes for Union for Peru, the northern-central coast for the Peruvian Aprista Party, and Lima (plus voters abroad, which counted as part of this Electoral District) for National Unity.

Former President Alberto Fujimori's daughter Keiko, of Alliance for the Future, obtained 602,869 votes, the highest individual voting nationwide (though it should be taken into account that she ran in Lima, the Electoral District with, by far, the largest electorate). She was followed by Carlos Bruce of Peru Possible, a former Minister of Housing, Construction and Sanitation, with 193,374.

The most voted candidate of the party with the most votes presides over the preparatory board for the installation of the new Congress. However, this corresponded to Carlos Torres Caro, Union for Peru's candidate for Second Vice-President, who, along with Gustavo Espinoza and Rocío González resigned from the party following the Second Round, arguing that Humala's approach to their role as an opposition party was too violent. The three incoming Members of Congress presented the new Peruvian Democratic Party on 26 June. [32]

Center Front, Peru Possible and National Restoration agreed to formally create a joint group in Congress with their 9 members, under the name of the first party. [33] This new group was the only one without representation in the multipartisan Directive Board of the new Congress, led by the Peruvian Aprista Party's Mercedes Cabanillas as president.

The seat allocation by electoral district is broken down in the table below. Colored cells indicate the party obtaining the most votes in each Electoral District.

Electoral District UPP PAP UN AF FC PP RN Total
Amazonas 1 1 2
Ancash 2 2 1 5
Apurímac 2 2
Arequipa 3 1 1 5
Ayacucho 3 3
Cajamarca 2 1 1 1 5
Callao 1 2 1 4
Cusco 4 1 5
Huancavelica 2 2
Huánuco 2 1 3
Ica 1 2 1 4
Junín 2 1 1 1 5
La Libertad 1 5 1 7
Lambayeque 1 2 1 1 5
Lima 6 7 8 8 3 2 1 35
Loreto 1 1 1 3
Madre de Dios 1 1
Moquegua 1 1 2
Pasco 1 1 2
Piura 2 3 1 6
Puno 3 1 1 5
San Martín 1 1 1 3
Tacna 1 1 2
Tumbes 1 1 2
Ucayali 1 1 2
Total 45 36 17 13 5 2 2 120

Andean Parliament

Only the three main parties obtained representation in the Andean Parliament, with Union for Peru and the Peruvian Aprista Party obtaining 2 seats (plus 4 substitutes) each, and National Unity getting one seat (and two substitutes). Union for Peru got the most votes, with 24.0% of the valid ballots. Congressman Rafael Rey of National Unity obtained the most individual votes, with 611,638, after which he announced his own and his party National Renewal's departure from the coalition. [34]

See also

External links