Table of Contents

1.      Introductory remarks
2.       Executive Summary     
3.       Peru: Statistical Country Profile     
4.       The European Observation Mission (EOM)      
5.       The Political Framework    
6.       The Legal Framework of Peruvian Elections     
   i)           The Constitutional and Legislative Framework
   ii)          Electoral rights and discriminations
   iii)        The Structure of the Electoral Administration
   iv)         Procedural provisions for the elections
   v)          Media Laws and Regulations

7.       The Pre-Election Phases    
   i)           Performance and co-ordination of the Electoral Agencies
   ii)          Registration of Parties and Candidates
   iii)        Voter and Civic Education
   iv)         Media and the Elections
   v)          The Election Campaign
   vi)         The electoral observation by the European Union Mission
   vii)       Domestic Observation of the Electoral Process

8.       The Events of the Election Days
   i)           General impressions
   ii)          Polling organisation and closing procedures
   iii)        Vote Tally and Tabulation
   iv)         Summary of observations by EU teams on election days

9.       Election results and the Post-Electoral phases
   i)           Contestations and Appeals
   ii)          The General Elections of 8 April and 3 June: Results

10.   Conclusions and Recommendations 
11.   Annexes     

2. Executive Summary

• The 2001 elections have fully conformed to international electoral standards. In the space of a few months the negative factors of influence in the elections of 2001, which could have adversely affected the poll, have been overcome.
• The government under President Paniagua has scrupulously maintained a perfect posture of neutrality, avoiding even the slightest impression of taking advantage of its measures to bolster the executive’s image in a way that might have influenced the vote.
• Voting procedures were strictly observed and the secrecy of the vote ensured. The Armed Forces and the National Police provided efficient co-operation, without any cases of undue intervention being reported.
• The electoral administration in its three institutions (RENIEC, ONPE and JNE) on the basis of the organisational changes effected after the end of the previous government, has proved to be capable in handling preparation and management of the electoral system. Failures in the software accounting system in relation with the complicated parliamentary poll (8 April) produced delays in the proclamation of final results; these difficulties have been overcome for the run-off election. ONPE successfully solved the computer problems encountered during the first round by deciding to use what had been the fallback program. This proved to be ideally suited to the simpler needs of the second round.
• Voter identification by RENIEC has progressed and been refined to the point that falsification or misuse of voting cards, as in the 2000 elections, was virtually precluded. The process of bringing the electoral roll up to date was sufficiently advanced to permit the elections to be held. Voter registration itself, however, is still not entirely error-proof, given the often incomplete data on defunctions, births, etc., especially in rural areas
• The electoral administration has instituted special facilities for blind and disabled persons to cast their vote. The Mission considers the decisive effort to guarantee disabled persons their political rights, specifically that of universal suffrage, a success that can serve as a model for other countries
• Peasant and native communities are in all respects considered full citizens who exercise their right to political participation. However, their participation is still often limited; even though the plurality of languages is acknowledged in the Constitution, electoral material and the identification of political parties and groups were presented in Spanish only.
• To enhance the “institutional presence” of women, a minimum quota of 30% participation per gender was legally established for the lists of congressional candidates. Women’s participation did not always manage to fill this quota. Out of the 120 seats in Congress, women attained only 22,18%.
• 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. As the election campaign proceeded, information content improved even though there were repeated lapses into vindictive personal exchanges and innuendo. Campaigning during the two rounds was carried out under well-established domestic and international monitoring which has permitted that the essential elements for fair voting conditions were maintained for the entire duration, as there are: freedom of assembly and free speech, free access of all political groups to the media, wide media coverage, and perfect freedom of movement.
• In the preparation of the 2001 electoral campaign, 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. The mission’s field observers were able to confirm that civic education and electoral training activities were carried out. These were mainly focused on training polling station staff and the population of rural communities.
• Peru has a diverse electronic and printed media landscape. Along with the three state-owned media (a TV channel, a radio station and a newspaper), a high number of privately owned media guarantees that the public can receive information from a wide variety of sources with differing political and social perspectives. The campaign in the media was generally well conducted and the media provided equal access and balanced coverage for all candidates.
• Polling days were generally marked by a calm atmosphere free of intimidation and attempts at fraud. Recurrent problems were the irregular attendance and, partly, low qualification of polling station staff which produced delays in setting up and opening polling boards. Cases were reported where party representatives (personeros) have exceeded their functions by participating in the electoral procedure where institutional or civil supervision was lacking.
• In the absence of a statute on political parties the realm of party activities is largely left unregulated. This had consequences in the establishment of the candidates' lists, the differential treatment given party candidates by their own organisations, and as to the definition of role and functions of personeros. JNE issued rules regarding the publication of party finance and of campaign expenses. So far, these rules have met with little success; none of the 13 political groups respected the 60-day legal deadline for the presentation of statements; four major party statements were still missing just before polling day, and most statements were sketchy and incomplete. The NGO Transparency was then put in charge of a partial accounting and monitoring procedure to shed some light on campaign expenses and of publishing the results.