Peruvian Politics

Peruvian local elections have dominated the focus of Poroto for the last several weeks. For the district of Poroto, which has about 2500 eligible voters, there were 9 candidates for the position of alcalde, which is more or less the equivalent of a mayor. The district has been filled with campaign posters and paraphernalia, looped track campaign jingles tied to pop songs played at a deafening volume, and pick-up trucks plastered with the candidates’ face. Additionally, the entire exteriors of houses within the district are painted with campaign propaganda and the candidates’ names are scrawled into the rock and dust high in the surrounding cerros. Emotions are running high as family ties and alliances are formed and broken. Nearly everyone has a strong opinion regarding the elections, and with so many candidates who each have 5 regidores who represent their campaign, the majority of the population has invested heavily in one political party.

This past week each candidate had an assigned night to conduct their political rally. The rallies featured the guest appearance of regional politicians from the same party, dancing, freebies, bands, impassioned speeches, and general partying. The plaza was filled with activity and noise late into the night all week. Various smells wafted through town as those with an entrepreneurial mind took advantage of the events and sold anticucho (chicken hearts) on a stick, corn on the cob, piccarones (fried doughnuts with honey), and more. I accepted an anticucho before I realized what it was and can now say it isn’t my favorite Peruvian street food. My house, which is really a restaurant, is located right on the plaza so I couldn’t escape the excitement and noise all week. At one point my bedroom door was literally shaking at 12am as blasting music continued well into the night.

The past two days have been almost eerily silent following the chaos of political campaigning of the last week. Campaigning and alcohol are banned for the weekend prior to the elections, so I was quite excited for the break from the chaos. Yesterday was the actual election, so the town was filled with citizens of the district who traveled in from local caserios or from their work/studies in Trujillo. Yesterday morning I accompanied some of the youth around town to conduct interviews with the candidates. They formed their own questions about the elections, issues of corruption, future plans for the district of Poroto, and the youth related goals of each candidate. I was impressed with their bold questions and interesting insight regarding the electoral process and candidates in their town.

Later, some of the high school girls were having a “cuyada” to raise money for their graduation. Cuys are guinea pigs, so a “cuyada” is a fundraiser where an organization cooks and sells massive quantities of guinea pig platters. This is a common practice here in Peru- “pollada” (chicken parties), “cevichada” (ceviche parties), etc. are used to raise money for a particular cause whether it be to support a school event, a construction project, a field trip, or even a family in need. After attending many Peruvian meetings I’ve realized that “polladas” are the most popular solution to any small-scale economic crisis. I spent the afternoon delivering guinea pigs with the girls, which was actually a lot of fun.

The elections continued throughout the day and I couldn’t help but laugh when people proudly indicated they had voted by flashing their middle finger with a dark purple ink stain. I’m hoping the gesture wasn’t intentional. Voting is obligatory in Peru, so all those who are registered in Poroto were in town. The results of the elections were scheduled to be announced at 7pm, so the entire community was crowded outside of the school where the votes were being tallied. Of course, the results weren’t announced until after 10pm, but the response was quite epic. The members of the winning party and their supporters rushed the streets waving flags and blasting their campaign jingle. Fireworks were immediately set off, and the new alcalde entered on the shoulders of his supporters in a mosh-pit like scene. He delivered a brief speech and all those from his party began dancing in the streets and buying endless cajas of beer. The entire political and electoral process has been quite an experience, but I’m certainly glad the campaigns are over until the Presidential elections commence next year.