Peru's future marches to the polls again. To understand the tone of the campaign, you have to keep your eye on the videotapes of spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos . Fujimori's intelligence chief and professional Rasputin had extensive dealings with Peru's economic and political elites, buying them off so that they would not challenge the Fujimori regime. A couple of times a week now, new videotapes come out and reveal more dirty deals. More than a few candidates live in fear of which tape will be pulled out of the vault for public display.
Many people are simple feed up with the political system.
Faced with the choice between Toledo and Garcia, as many as a fifth of the voters may spoil their ballots. In this videotape-obsessed campaign, all politicians are presumed guilty until proven the contrary, in the eyes of the electorate. Except for APRA, there are no national political parties. All the candidate slates are slapped together in jerryrigged alliances and backroom deals. Any likelihood of the presidential winner having a working majority in Congress is remote.