LIMA, Peru - A moderate-leftist former president appeared close Saturday to locking up a spot in a presidential runoff against nationalist candidate Ollanta Humala.
ADVERTISEMENT
With more than 96 percent of votes counted from the April 9 election, Alan Garcia had 24.4 percent over conservative former congresswoman Lourdes Flores' 23.6 percent.
"There's very little chance for Lourdes," said Fernando Tuesta, director of the polling unit for Lima's Catholic University and the former chief of Peru's national vote-counting office.
"The probability that she catches up is minimum," he told The Associated Press.
But with only 92,636 ballots separating them, and allegations from Flores' camp that procedural errors cost her votes, an official declaration of victory still seemed days away.
Manuel Saavedra, director of the CPI polling firm, said that vote-counting mistakes would have to have been overwhelming for Flores to pass Garcia.
Flores had hoped that she could catch up with votes cast by Peruvians living abroad, among whom she was heavily favored. But with nearly 75 percent of 250,000 foreign votes counted, she still failed to breach the gap.
Humala led the April 9 election, leading a field of 20 candidates with nearly 31 percent of the valid votes, ensuring him a place in the second round.
The 43-year-old nationalist candidate has frightened many middle- and upper-class Peruvians with pledges to radically redistribute the nation's wealth, increase government control over key sectors of the economy and end U.S.-backed eradication of coca, the raw material for cocaine.
Flores, 46 and in her second presidential campaign, has had a hard time deflecting depictions of herself as the candidate of Peru's rich, white elite.
She said late Friday that her party was "waiting patiently" for the results.
"The only thing we want to know is what the truth is and trust that truth will deliver us to the government palace."
Garcia, 56, a dazzling orator, is seeking a second chance to govern after a 1985-90 presidency marked by hyperinflation and a bloody insurgency by Maoist Shining Path guerrillas.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060423...zNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
I think when America tried to defeat socialism or communism or whatever they called it they should have completed the job since the world is going to the left not the right.
ADVERTISEMENT
With more than 96 percent of votes counted from the April 9 election, Alan Garcia had 24.4 percent over conservative former congresswoman Lourdes Flores' 23.6 percent.
"There's very little chance for Lourdes," said Fernando Tuesta, director of the polling unit for Lima's Catholic University and the former chief of Peru's national vote-counting office.
"The probability that she catches up is minimum," he told The Associated Press.
But with only 92,636 ballots separating them, and allegations from Flores' camp that procedural errors cost her votes, an official declaration of victory still seemed days away.
Manuel Saavedra, director of the CPI polling firm, said that vote-counting mistakes would have to have been overwhelming for Flores to pass Garcia.
Flores had hoped that she could catch up with votes cast by Peruvians living abroad, among whom she was heavily favored. But with nearly 75 percent of 250,000 foreign votes counted, she still failed to breach the gap.
Humala led the April 9 election, leading a field of 20 candidates with nearly 31 percent of the valid votes, ensuring him a place in the second round.
The 43-year-old nationalist candidate has frightened many middle- and upper-class Peruvians with pledges to radically redistribute the nation's wealth, increase government control over key sectors of the economy and end U.S.-backed eradication of coca, the raw material for cocaine.
Flores, 46 and in her second presidential campaign, has had a hard time deflecting depictions of herself as the candidate of Peru's rich, white elite.
She said late Friday that her party was "waiting patiently" for the results.
"The only thing we want to know is what the truth is and trust that truth will deliver us to the government palace."
Garcia, 56, a dazzling orator, is seeking a second chance to govern after a 1985-90 presidency marked by hyperinflation and a bloody insurgency by Maoist Shining Path guerrillas.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060423...zNvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--
I think when America tried to defeat socialism or communism or whatever they called it they should have completed the job since the world is going to the left not the right.