09-06-2016: Latin American Weekly Report

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski will become Peru’s 95th president on 28 July after defeating Keiko Fujimori by 50.1%-49.9% in the closest electoral contest in the country’s history. Fewer than 40,000 votes separate Kuczynski from Fujimori out of some 17.1m ballots cast. Fujimori has refused to concede defeat until all of the vote is in but with the count standing at 99.9% Kuczynski should be proclaimed president by the weekend. Kuczynski inherits an economy which, while not firing on all cylinders, has been growing for 82 consecutive months. His challenge will be political. He will need to govern with a political aptitude not always apparent during his electoral campaign as Fujimori’s populist right-wing Fuerza Popular (FP) will have a two-thirds majority in congress. On paper Kuczynski shares many policy positions with FP but he is beholden to leftist voters who won him the election and will face social protests if he forgets that fact.