From: David Sangurima <sangu@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.latin-america
Date: 05 Oct 92 18:43 PDT
Subject: IPS:Peru:Major Parties Boycott Elec
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1473800334:000:3812
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!sangu    Oct  5 18:43:00 1992


From: David Sangurima <sangu>
Subject: IPS:Peru:Major Parties Boycott Elections

/* Written 12:16 am  Oct  2, 1992 by newsdesk in cdp:ips.englibrary */
/* ---------- "PERU: MAJOR PARTIES DECIDE TO BOYCO" ---------- */
Copyright Inter Press Service 1992, all rights reserved.  Permission to re-
print within 7 days of original date only with permission from 'newsdesk'.

Title: PERU: MAJOR PARTIES DECIDE TO BOYCOTT ELECTIONS


lima, sep 28 (ips) -- two parties, including peru's biggest
political organization, the peruvian apra party (apra) have
announced that they will not be participating in the nov. 22
elections to a new constituent assembly.

at separate plenary sessions held on sunday, apra and the
popular action party (ap), another major grouping, decided not to
participate in the elections to the assembly, which would replace
the country's parliament, dissolved by president alberto fujimori
in april.

apra has called on its members to cast blank or spoilt votes
while ap has decided to allow its members to vote for candidates
from other parties.

both parties said their decision was motivated by the
conviction that the polls, recommended by the organization of
american states (oas) as a means of resolving peru's political
crisis, would legitimize fujimori's de facto regime.

sunday's decisions constitute a victory for forces within both
groupings which want to destabilize fujimori's government and
force him to call general elections.

the leaders of both parties also feel that there are no
guarantees for fair elections under the de facto government which
dissolved parliament on apr. 5 with the aid of the military.

however, they both decided to participate in municipal
elections to be held 60 days after the november polls, that is,
in january 1993.

apra's mercedes cabanillas, who is acting as the party's
general secretary during the absence of ex-president alan garcia,
now in self-imposed exile in colombia to avoid trial on
corruption charges, said the municipal elections stand a better
chance of being democratic and fair.

''the constituent assembly will be elected on a nationwide
level, while the municipal polls will be held in each district,
so that the parties will be able to monitor the elections, the
counting of votes and the results more directly,'' cabanillas
explained.

former apra parliamentarian jorge del castillo said that the
strategy of spoilt or blank votes his party has adopted aims at
forcing the national electoral jury to declare the polls null and
void.

according to the constitution suspended by fujimori in april,
the jury would have to invalidate the elections if two-thirds of
the votes cast are spoilt or blank. (more)
----


del castillo also stressed that the apra plenary had not taken
into account the fact that the ''sendero luminoso'' guerrilla
group had also called on its supporters to abstain from voting or
to cast invalid votes.

''i do not imagine that this circumstantial coincidence will
make anyone think that we are collaborating with maoist
subversion,'' he said.

(sendero luminoso, a guerrilla organization which has been
operating for 12 years now, is considered a maoist group).

ap's leader eduardo calmell del solar said that now that his
party is not putting up any candidates for the election, party
members ''will vote for the lists of parties or independent
movements with which they identify most.''

calmell del solar had advocated participating in the election,
but bowed to the superior strength of the pro-boycott faction
within his party.

''i did not agree with the boycott, but i have to accept it. i
do not think that non-participation places the party in a crisis,
because the plenary served to define positions and give way to a
new generation of leaders,'' he said.
(end/ips/trd/so/al-cs/kb/92)
----



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