With All Votes in, Kuczynski Celebrates Win in Peru Election

[Eugene]

Last edited Thu Jun 9, 2016, 06:42 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Associated Press

Former World Bank economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won the majority of votes in Peru's closest presidential contest in five decades, election officials announced Thursday, even as his rival Keiko Fujimori had yet to concede defeat.

Four days after voting, electoral officials said that all ballots had been processed and Kuczynski had won 50.1 percent compared to 49.9 percent for the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

Supporters immediately celebrated outside Kuczynski's campaign headquarters while the apparent president-elect made a plea for dialogue with his opponent and other rival political forces.

"We receive this virtual verdict with great humility because Peru has huge challenges ahead of it," he told supporters. "We shouldn't confuse dialogue with weakness. We're going to be decisive but we're going to work on behalf of all Peru because many Peruvians feel the train has left them behind and we want everyone to get on board."

Despite the celebratory atmosphere, Fujimori's campaign seemed in no rush to recognize defeat.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/perus-presidential-election-wait-enters-4th-day-39715609

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By JOSHUA GOODMAN AND FRANKLIN BRICENO, ASSOCIATED PRESS LIMA, Peru — Jun 9, 2016, 6:19 PM ET

EDIT: Typo fixed in linked article.

[yeoman6987]

1. Good or bad?

[L. Coyote]

6. Very good. The right-wing and Fuji-peori winning would NOT be good?

[MisterFred]

8. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't PPK also right wing?

Urban-finance right wing (PPK) vs ethnic, law & order right wing (Fujimori)?

[L. Coyote]

9. Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is PPK, it is what people call him instead of using his Polish surname.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski is a former Cabinet chief and minister under two different presidents, and a presidential candidate in 2016 elections.

See the latest news for Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Kuczynski was born in Lima to European immigrants. His Polish-German father, Maxime Hans Kuczynski, was an accomplished doctor noted for his research on health issues in the Amazon rainforest and Andean highlands. His French mother taught literature.

Kuczynski earned bachelor’s degrees in politics and economics from Oxford University and a master’s in economics from Princeton. Kuczynski went to work in economic research for the World Bank in 1961, where he gained expertise in mining and extractive industries on projects in Chile, Argentina, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama and Honduras.

Kuczynski left the World Bank to work at Peru’s central bank, where he helped engineer a currency devaluation and debt restructuring as a consultant to President Fernando Belaunde. In 1968, populist military general Juan Velasco seized power in a coup d’etat. Kuczynski went into exile in the United States, where he returned to work for the World Bank on Latin American studies and mining projects.

In 1980, Kuczynski returned to Peru to join the second presidential campaign of Fernando Belaunde. Upon his election, Belaunde appointed Kuczynski as Minister of Energy and Mines. ....

Kuczynski founded the NGO, Agua Limpia, which helps finance clean water systems and development projects in impoverished rural areas of Peru.

In 2010, Kuczynski announced his candidacy for president in the 2011 elections. He headed the Alliance for Great Change coalition, which consisted of the Popular Christian Party, Peruvian Humanist Party, National Restoration and Alliance for Progress parties. Despite leading the field of three centrist candidates, he garnered only 19% of the vote, putting him in third place and disqualifying him from the ensuing run-off election between Ollanta Humala and Keiko Fujimori.

Kuczynski’s platform in 2016 elections looks to overhaul the police force and judiciary, increase the minimum wage, reduce procedural steps in conducting formal business, implement tax breaks for small businesses and reduce the national sales tax from 18% to 15%.

Kuczynski is the cousin of French-Swiss filmmaker, Jean-Luc Godard, and the father of acclaimed New York Times columnist, Alex Kuczynski.

[MisterFred]

10. I'll take that as a yes. nt

[L. Coyote]

11. Read the post maybe, instead. Not a yes.

[MisterFred]

12. Banker with a lot of mining background.

Family with political connections. I read it. Sounds like a free-trade, anything for foreign investment right winger.

It's a profile from perureports.com, not a biography.

[L. Coyote]

13. What is in your mind is reality, right, no matter the facts.

Next time, we'll try to find a candidate without an occupation or experience at anything so you won't be able to label them a right winger

[MisterFred]

14. The facts may be that he's not right wing.

But you haven't listed any of those facts.

[former9thward]

15. PPK is a center right party.

Weird that you won't admit that.

[MisterFred]

2. 51.1 percent compared to 49.9

Typo or Ohio-style election results?

More seriously, I still don't know if this is a good thing. Comes down to whether Fujimori was lying about believing in representative government, I suppose.

[Igel]

4. Yeah, "we've counted 101% of the votes."

Some are proudly innumerate.

[KamaAina]

5. Typo

From the ABC News link:

Four days after voting, electoral officials said that all ballots had been processed and Kuczynski had won 50.1 percent compared to 49.9 percent for the daughter of imprisoned ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

Remember, you can't spell 'crap' without AP.

[KamaAina]

3. Imagine having a choice between a World Bank economist and a second-generation dictator.

Well, at least that kind of thing would never happen here!

[chapdrum]

7. You nailed it, perfectly.