00:01Welcome back. In the context of the Peruvian elections of the new president, we welcome Armando Mendoza, teacher and researcher
00:09in public policy from the capital of Peru, Lima, who will give us his insight into this democratic process. Welcome,
00:17Armando.
00:18Good morning, Sandra.
00:22Good morning. So, Armando, what is the climate in this process? What are the citizens' expectations going to the polls
00:30today?
00:33Well, there is a lot of uncertainty, pressure, tension in the environment because the presidential race has been very, very
00:46close.
00:47According to most polls, the difference between the two candidates that are now in the runoff of the election, the
00:57difference is less than 1% of the vote.
00:59So, nobody really knows who is going to win.
01:02And unfortunately, the most probably outcome tonight, one that the winner is announcing, is that we are going to get
01:11into a period of weeks or maybe months where the losing party is going to contest the results of the
01:19elections.
01:19And there is going to be a lot of, you know, back and forth, legal, back and forth, you know,
01:25and we don't know exactly what is going to happen, but there is going to be a lot of uncertainty
01:30regarding the situation of the democratic process.
01:36Well, speaking of this kind of political maneuvers, right before the process started, Peru's judiciary opened a criminal case against
01:43Juntos por Peru candidate Roberto Sánchez, which can be seen as part of a tendency where progressive candidates in Latin
01:51America are attacked, their image is attacked right before the elections.
01:57What do you think about this?
01:58What do you think about this?
02:00Unfortunately, that is business as usual in Peruvian politics and actually in Latin American politics.
02:09And in the last, during the last election process, what we have seen mostly has not been an exchange of
02:17proposals for government, of policy proposals, an open debate on ideas.
02:24It has been mostly accusations about if you are from that extreme sector, extreme right, extreme left, if you are
02:34a subversive, if you have accusations, criminal accusations, or you have lawsuit, etc.
02:41In other words, in other words, in other words, in other words, in other words, in that context, the voters,
02:46the population hardly have been real in time of what the candidates are really proposing.
02:55There is a lot, you know, populist, populist announcements, you know, and in that context, actually, it's not clear if
03:05there is going to be a real governance agenda for the next five years with the new government.
03:11Because everything is like more accusation, more and more accusations, and actually, you know, a lot of unsound promises about,
03:22you know, in order to attract votes from the population.
03:26But it's not clear if that is going to relate, it's going to actually drive to sound policies for the
03:35government.
03:39Now, in a broader regional aspect, we have been looking at a tendency lately in the last few years in
03:46Latin America of the rise of the right, of right-wing governments.
03:56So, a candidate like Keiko Fujimori, if she were to win the elections in Peru, what do you think this
04:04would mean for Latin America?
04:08Well, in Latin America, when there is an election in one country, Peru or any other country, usually what you
04:16have is an ideological polarization across the region regarding who is going to win, the left or the right, ¿no?
04:25So, all the parties and, you know, political personalities from one or another side, consider that if the right guy
04:36wins in Peru or any other country, that is a win for them.
04:40You know, something like, you know, something like, you know, something like a victory for a movement or a continental
04:45movement or resistance against the less revolution.
04:50On the other side, you have the opposite situation. To be honest, it's a progressive government, you know, guns into
04:58Peru or any other country that is considered like a victory for the progressive forces and the revolution.
05:05But in many cases, that has nothing to do with the real issues, with the real problems that should be
05:13addressed by a national government.
05:15That is a discussion that is happening essentially in the social media, you know, in the mainstream media, but has
05:23little to do with the real situation of the citizens.
05:25The big problem for the citizens in Peru and Latin America are poverty, citizen security, getting decent jobs.
05:36But in this ideological mess, in this ideological polarization and confrontation, usually it's very difficult to build real governance agenda
05:49regardless who is going to win the elections.
05:56Well, that was very helpful, Mr. Mendoza. Thank you very much for your insight.
06:03Well, that was Armando Mendoza, teacher and researcher in public policies, joining us from the Peruvian capital, Lima.
06:12Now we have a short break coming up, but we'll bring it back with more from the South. Stay with
06:16us.
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