• Statement by Commissioner C. Patten on elections in Peru
• Second public declaration of the EU Election Observation Mission to Peru.
• The EU Mission to Peru gave a first statement on the electoral process in a press conference held Friday, 9 of March.(13-3-01)
• The Head of the EOM of the EU in Peru released to the local press her first impressions.
  ( 6-3-01 )

Preliminary Report

Lima, 9 April 2001. This preliminary report on the elections that took place on 8 April 2001 continues the series of declarations already put out by the European Union Elections Observation Mission (EOM-EU). It has been drawn up before the official announcement of the election results. A final report will be published once the election is completed. The Mission wishes to thank the Peruvian people who, through the Government of President Valentín Paniagua, invited us to witness these elections which represent the highest form of social freedom. We should also like to thank the authorities and institutions for their hospitality and availability.

During the election campaign and on polling day the European Union Elections Observation Mission headed by Mrs Eva Zetterberg, in which a team of European Parliament observers led by Mr Joaquim Miranda and Mr Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra participated, was present in the Departments of Lima, La Libertad, Loreto,

Arequipa, Ayacucho and Puno, and visited the Departments of Amazonas, San Martín and Ucayali. The mission, including the parliamentarians, as well as being present on the ground, has had intensive contacts with a wide range of institutions, political parties and social sectors, and has sounded out the views of other national and international observer missions. The EOM-EU is consequently in a position to make the following assessment:

1. The Transitional Government has called and organised the elections in a neutral and impartial manner.
2. The institutions responsible for the elections, namely the National Jury for Elections (Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, JNE), the State Office for Electoral Processes (Oficina Nacional de Procesos Electorales, ONPE) and the National Identity and Civil Status Registry (Registro Nacional de Identificación y Estado Civil, RENIEC) have organised and managed the process in a neutral and impartial manner.
3. The reformed legal framework has provided an appropriate structure for fair, clean, and transparent elections in which there can be real competition between candidates.
4. The election campaign was conducted under satisfactory conditions in which the rights of freedom of expression and of association and the right to demonstrate were generally respected. It was only rarely marred by acts of aggression or intimidation.
5. The right to vote is practically universal for all citizens, except, in accordance with the law, in the case of members of the armed forces (FFAA) and the police.
6. The process of bringing the electoral roll up to date was sufficiently advanced to enable the elections to be held.
7. Particular attention was paid to civic education for voters and electoral officials, through the efforts of the JNE, ONPE, the Ombudsman (Defensoría del Pueblo, DP) and certain non-government associations such as Transparencia.
8. Civil society came up with, and put into effect, initiatives involving citizens in electoral monitoring. Those involved, rather than being restricted by the electoral institutions, were registered and accredited.
9. The FFAA have accepted the new directives regarding neutrality and impartiality, and efficiently provided security and logistic support for the electoral process.
10. In the absence of a statute on political parties, rules regarding advertising, campaign costs and financial contributions to parties and groups were drawn up. These have been of only limited effectiveness to date.
11. The news and opinion media have published a wide range of varying and contrasting commentaries, a fact that has enriched the electoral debate.
12. The ONPE has arranged for adequate broadcasting time to be allocated to all the parties and candidates, and all have had equal access to the electronic media.
13. The polling day was characterised by peaceful participation by voters.
14. The participation of citizens selected to act as election officials was notably high.
15. The poll, despite certain technical difficulties, has so far passed off normally.

Preliminary Observations

1. Administration and election expenses

The transitional government has succeeded in passing on its neutrality not only to the civil and, in particular, the electoral bodies, but also to the armed forces and the police in general. It had been necessary for a large part of the staff of the electoral bodies to be changed in order to prevent the reoccurrence of irregular practices, which had been introduced and made widespread by the former regime. This has strengthened public confidence in the new disposition. The fact that not all those dismissed could be replaced throughout all these public bodies, and particularly at department and local levels, does not appear to have affected the electoral process as such.

The Constitution guarantees that the electoral system, made up of the JNE, ONPE and RENIEC, is independent of the political powers, and lays down their respective responsibilities. In these elections the electoral bodies and the Ombudsman went to great lengths to generate public confidence through excessive procedures, audits, control and supervision.

2. Rights and Participation

Universal adult suffrage is an essential element in democracy. The right of all citizens, male and female, to participate in decision-making through voting, is guaranteed to everybody by the present Peruvian electoral regime, except military and police personnel and prisoners, both convicts and persons pending trial. However, elections should involve an even higher level of citizen participation for two reasons; firstly because of the need to staff temporary bodies such as polling station boards (Mesas de Sufragio, MS) and Subsidiary Electoral Tribunals (Jurados Electorales Especiales, JEE); secondly and more importantly, because the electoral system should generate confidence among citizens through their direct involvement in its institutions.

It is the EOM-EU’s considered opinion that, with regard to human rights criteria on political participation (Universal Declaration Art. 21.1), this aspect of the procedure is flawed. The electoral law is restrictive regarding public participation because of the legal requirement that all those serving on temporary electoral bodies should have a "higher level of education" (Organic Election Law articles 45 and 55). This least transparent phase in the electoral procedure implies and encourages lack of public trust

When dealing with rights, reference should be made to forms of discrimination. In order to encourage the representation of women, who traditionally suffer from discriminatory practices, the law implies that not more than 70% of the candidates on a list should be of the same sex. This condition has not always been respected, and complaints to this effect have not been upheld. Progress has also been made with regard to the participation of persons suffering from disabilities. The law gives blind people the right to vote, and the electoral bodies have examined problems relating to other forms of disability.

Furthermore, the electoral regime does not take account of the requirement for prior consultation when drawing up procedures, as provided for in the International Labour Organisation Convention on Indigenous Peoples in Independent Countries, which Peru has ratified and which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights regards as a human rights instrument.

3. The Campaign and Electoral Debates

At first the campaign between the eight presidential candidates’ political groupings was characterised by a high level of civility and serenity, including the possibility of a "governability pact" between the main forces involved.

As the campaign progressed, an increasing number of controversial elements tended to marginalise discussion on candidate’s programmes and on basic issues.

As a result of a series of commentaries in the media on private matters, leading to mutual recrimination, the political climate became more bitter during the two weeks preceding the elections. The introduction of ethnic elements into the debates is noteworthy.

Direct and open confrontation between the principal opponents was, however, avoided.

4. Media coverage and involvement

Media presence throughout the campaign was marked by a level of pluralism that enabled all the candidates, parties and groupings to make their ideas and programmes known to national public opinion.

The new law on electoral time in the electronic media (the "franja electoral") provided all the candidates with free airtime during prime times.

However it is clear that the debate on the programmes was conducted unequally by the media. The communications strategy chosen by much of the media, as well as by certain candidates, generally led to the production of news that contained little analysis of political proposals.

Here the treatment of opinion polls on voters’ intentions, by both journalists and politicians, would bear watching. The regulation of such polls by the JNE appears to be sufficient in so far as technical and sociological assessment criteria are concerned, but the use that was made of the results of polls tended to ignore important factors such as the sample size geographical and social representativity.

5. The vote and the count
   
   Polling stations opened more or less on time. As the maximum number of persons for each polling station is only 200, there was ample time for all who wished to do so to vote. A sizeable number of representatives of political parties and voluntary organisations was present, more than ever before in Peru. Polling station staff, ONPE co-ordinators, and supervisors from the JNE and the ombudsman’s office, conducted operations in a generally correct and efficient manner.
   
   As a general rule, the polling stations closed at 4 p.m. All persons present at that time were allowed to vote. The counts, initially in the polling stations and subsequently in the computation centres, were conducted calmly, using the technical means available, in a manner that generated confidence in the procedures. The proportion of challenged decisions at polling station level was remarkably low.
   
   The fact that all election material was in Spanish gave rise to difficulties in areas where indigenous languages predominated.
   
   The last-minute decision by the Constitutional Court to revoke a legal clause imposing a preliminary results news blackout between 4pm and 10pm (with the possible exception of early results from ONPE), is regarded as positive. The public was given the results of exit polls and quick counts, the latter being more reliable. This has contributed to ensuring a peaceful polling day.

Internet http://www.moeue-peru.org