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Peru's Fujimori favored for third term, opponents stage peaceful outporing |
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May 30, 2000
LIMA, MAY 29 (AP) - Alberto Fujimori appeared headed for a third term as Peru's president, with a poll projection giving him a resounding triumph in a run-off election questioned by foreign observers and boycotted by his opponent.
Tens of thousands of supporters of challenger Alejandro Toledo massed on a central Lima Plaza in a nighttime outpouring to noisily shout their opposition to Fujimori's expected victory.
"I've come to tell the people of Peru: Enough of this dictatorship!" said Toledo, 54, whose presence on the San Martin Plaza sparked a roar from the crowd. "Fujimori has taken off his mask, and killed democracy in Peru!" |
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Supporters of Peru's President Alberto Fujimori hold posters while demonstrating in support of the president in Lima Sunday, May 28, 2000. President Alberto Fujimori was certain to win Sunday's runoff presidential election, as opposition candidate Alejandro Toledo boycotted the vote.(AP Photo/Martin Mejia) |
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Riot police fought sporadic street clashes with Fujimori opponents near the plaza before pulling back Sunday afternoon. Only a few regular officers watched the nighttime rally, and did not intervene as Toledo urged them to remain peaceful.
"Let's not be provoked to violence," he told the crowd.
Demonstrators waved banners reading "No to Fraud!" while chanting, "The dictatorship will fall!"
They also shouted in unison: "Listen Fujimori: The people repudiate you!" Hundreds broke away to march toward the nearby presidential palace.
Toledo earlier in the day called for "peaceful resistance" to Fujimori's re-election bid. When asked whether he would recognize the outcome, he said, "No way!"
The first independent vote projection gave Fujimori a huge lead over Toledo as the 61-year-old incumbent sought an unprecedented third term.
Nearly a third of the ballots were annulled as large group apparently heeded Toledo's call to spoil their ballot, independent pollsters said.
In the unofficial vote projection, Fujimori led with 50.8 percent of the ballot to 16.7 percent for Toledo while 30.6 percent of the ballots were annulled and 4.8 percent left blank, according to the respected polling firm CPI. No margin of error was provided.
Election officials had said first official results would be released as early as 0200 GMT Monday. But preliminary returns were still being awaited at that time, with final results expected within days.
Pro-Toledo rallies were reported elsewhere nationwide and one march by 30,000 people in the central Andean city of Huancayo turned violent when vandals broke windows in public offices.
The events unfolded after a largely peaceful ballot in which long lines formed outside polling stations nationwide. Peruvians faced fines if they did not vote, but many said they planned to spoil their ballots.
Sporadic clashes between hundreds of riot police using tear gas and water cannons marred the election, but no serious injuries were reported.
Fujimori, who came to power in 1990, counted on solid support among Peru's poor majority to deliver certain victory and weather the international storm provoked by the refusal of election officials to delay the disputed poll.
Fujimori ignored the boycott by Toledo, violent street protests and the withdrawal of foreign monitors who warned a fair vote could not be guaranteed. He said Sunday that the voting would be fair and free.
"This is an election in which there are two candidates because Mr. Toledo has not withdrawn. If he had withdrawn, then there wouldn't be an election," Fujimori said.
He said Sunday's vote "will demonstrate to the international community that this is a clean and fair election and there is no coercion of any kind."
Promising jobs and capitalizing on his Indian appearance, the 54-year-old Toledo made a surprising surge in the first round. But Fujimori fought back, depicting the U.S.-trained economist as a populist who would plunge the country back into the political chaos and hyperinflation of the 1980s.
Fujimori won 49.9 percent of the first-round ballot April 9, just shy of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff against Toledo, who collected 40.2 percent and afterward complained that fraud prevailed. But election officials were unable to explain how the number of ballots cast exceeded the number of voters by more than 1.4 million.
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