Fringe religious party gains power in crisis-stricken Peru

[Judi Lynn]

February 18, 2020 8.55am EST

Peru’s Jan. 26 special election was exceptional.

Not only did voters elected 130 new legislators, replacing their entire Congress; they also brought into the fold a messianic religious group called the Israelites of the New Universal Pact.

After 40 years of failing to qualify for a national election, the political party of the Israelites – called the Agricultural People’s Front of Peru, or Frepap – won 15 congressional seats. In a fragmented Congress with nine parties, that makes the Israelites the third-largest legislative bloc.

The line between religion and politics has long been blurry in Peru. Both its mainstream parties – Acción Popular, the first-place vote-winners; and Alianza para el Progreso, with the second-most seats– have historical ties to Christian Democracy, a Catholic movement that gained popularity in 1950s Latin America with its centrist approach to economic development and conservative social values at a time of divisive Cold War rhetoric.

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The Israelites of the New Universal Pact at a religious ceremony in Cieneguilla, Peru, in 1995. MARIE HIPPENMEYER/AFP via Getty Images

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https://theconversation.com/fringe-religious-party-gains-power-in-crisis-stricken-peru-130679