Peru: Mayoral Elections as Seen by Bloggers

On Sunday October 3rd, Peruvian citizens participated in three simultaneous electoral processes for mayoral, district and regional authorities. Additionally, they also voted on a referendum to decide about contributions paid to the Housing National Fund (Fonavi, according to its Spanish name).

Cafe Henry, from the blog El Placard H [es], expressed some ideas the day before the elections:

Ya son pocas las horas para que emitamos nuestros votos. El PLACARD “H” les invita a que voten por las persona mas adecuada, con mejores propuestas, no emitamos un voto dirigido por las encuestas. Seamos concientes y consecuentes con lo que hagamos.

We are hours away from casting our votes. El PLACARD “H” invites you all to vote for the right person, with the best ideas, let's not cast a vote according to the surveys. Let's be aware and consistent with what we do.

Voters show their dyed fingers after voting. Image by Global Voices author Gabriela García Calderón

The blog Con y contra todos [es], by Pressgirl, reviews the last weeks of campaign and includes videos to emphasize her points:

Lo único que me ha parecido genial durante la campaña de estas elecciones regionales y municipales ha sido toda la explosiva creatividad de algunos conocidos y otros tantos más desconocidos.

Porque entre tanto argumento en contra de la “izquierda antigua/nueva”, la “derecha autoritaria/tradicional”, el fantasmagórico regreso del fujimontesinismo chupacabras-chuponeador, necesitábamos de alguien que jugara semióticamente (sí, es un término inventado) con los símbolos, metáforas y figuras de nuestra escena política.

The only thing I consider great during the campaign for these regional and municipal elections has been all the explosive creativity of some known candidates and other not that well-known.

Because amidst all that argument against the “old/new left”, the “authoritarian/traditional right”, the ghostly return of the goatsucker-line tapping fujimontesinismo, we needed someone who played semiotically (yes, it's an invented term) with the symbols, metaphors and figures from our political scene.

Miguel Humberto Aguirre, a very popular journalist, shares some nostalgic views on his blog Apuntes de mi libreta [es], hosted on the web site of RadioProgramas del Perú:

Cuando mi padre me llevó por primera vez a un recinto de votación, fue para mí como sacar un pasaporte de figuración “entre los grandes”. Aún tengo presente a los serios policías y militares que fumaban a escondidas de sus superiores, o se comían su “sanguchito”.

When my father took me along to an electoral venue, to me it was like getting a passport to be considered “among the adults”. I still remember the serious police and army officers smoking behind their superior's backs, or eating their “sandwiches”.

Peruvian citizens living abroad cast their votes too, but only on the question referred to the referendum. Ernesto, the blogger of Física3 [es], writing from Madrid, tells us his experience:

Al momento de votar a eso de las 11:30 fui testigo de una escena curiosa, los miembros de mi mesa estaban discutiendo con uno de los responsables del consulado, pues se negaban a aceptar fusionar su mesa con una aledaña (había 5 personas de dicha mesa esperando votar), aduciendo de que ya bastante estaban cumpliendo con su deber al quedarse ahi y cerrar la mesa, y que el escrutinio de una mesa adicional era un esfuerzo extra y que trabajaban al día siguiente.

At the time of voting, at about 11:30, I witnessed a curious scene, the members of my electoral booth were arguing with one of the consulate officers, because they refused to merge their booth with a neighboring one (there were 5 people from that booth waiting to vote), claiming that they were doing enough already by staying there, and that counting the votes of an extra booth was an extra effort and they had to work the next day.

Silvio Rendón, from the blog Gran Combo Club shares his experience [es] from New York City, and he even includes a video:

Acabo de venir de ir a votar, pero no pude hacerlo. Al llegar resultó que mi mesa de votación no se había abierto. No me dejaron pasar. Pregunté por qué. Me dijeron que era porque no llegaron los miembros de mesa. P

I just came back from trying to go vote, but I was unable to. Once there, it turned out that my electoral booth wasn't installed yet. They wouldn't let me go through. I asked why. I was told it was because the members of my electoral booth hadn't arrived yet. P

On Twitter, the hashtag #elecciones2010 is receiving continuous updates, especially after the exit polls were announced at exactly 4 pm yesterday, time when the elections officially concluded. The official results will be announced later today.

Thumbnail image by Flickr user Congreso de la República del Perú, used under an Attribution 2.0 Generic Creative Commons license

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