Peru Elections

In the wake of President Alberto Fujimori's momentous decision to hold new elections in which he will not run, Peruvians grappled Sunday with two questions: What really happened? And what happens next? The citizens of this nation are accustomed to dramatic and mysterious political events after 10 years under a leader with a penchant for audacity and secrecy. But Fujimori topped himself Saturday night, delivering the ultimate bombshell.

Peruvian troops raided the San Marcos University medical school, seizing homemade bombs in the second anti-guerrilla sweep in universities before nationwide municipal elections Sunday. Witnesses said that about 200 army troops ringed the campus in central Lima with trucks, sweeping through the groups and seizing Molotov cocktails and red flags of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), a Maoist guerrilla group.

Writer Mario Vargas Llosa raised his arms in triumph at a rally where leaders of a center-right coalition announced that they will support him as their presidential candidate, newspapers said Saturday. But Vargas Llosa did not formally respond to the offer of support from the three-party Democratic Front, which includes former President Fernando Belaunde Terry's Popular Action party.

After one of Latin America's strangest and most troubled election campaigns in recent years, Peruvians elected President Alberto Fujimori to an unprecedented third term Sunday, early results indicated, in a vote that was boycotted by his challenger and international monitors. Riot police fired tear gas at tens of thousands of anti-Fujimori marchers who took to the streets here and in provincial cities.

Election officials Thursday rejected fervent appeals from Peruvians and foreign diplomats to postpone a presidential election clouded by suspicion and protest, declaring that the vote will go forward Sunday as scheduled. The announcement means that President Alberto Fujimori will almost certainly be reelected to an unprecedented third term.

Only three years before the landmark political crisis that has engulfed Peru, former Argentine Foreign Minister Guido di Tella scanned a wall map during an interview and called democratic conditions in Latin America "too good to be true." Free elections, free speech and free markets had sunk roots across the region, the foreign minister said, allowing leaders to concentrate on the "next wave" of reforms in areas such as education and justice. The map looks a lot different today.

The National Election Board on Thursday rejected a request by Peruvian opposition candidate Alejandro Toledo to postpone a May 28 runoff against President Alberto Fujimori, throwing the election into doubt. Toledo had refused a few hours earlier to participate in the runoff if it is held as scheduled, saying there was not enough time to resolve fears of fraud and unfair voting conditions. "A delay in the date of the second election has been rejected," a statement from the election panel said.

U.S.-Peruvian relations, chilled by President Alberto Fujimori's April coup, seemed palpably warmer Monday after elections for a new national legislature. But a ranking U.S. diplomat said Washington needs more proof of democratic progress before it will fully renew cooperation with this troubled country. Luigi Einaudi, U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States and head of a U.S.

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori took a hastily arranged trip to Washington on Thursday to appeal for international support for his troubled regime and his plan to remain in office until new elections are held next year. With rumors of a planned military coup swirling in Lima, Peru's capital, Fujimori conferred with Cesar Gaviria, secretary-general of the Organization of American States. He was scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright today. After months of ignoring U.S.

The stately palace where Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has ruled for the past decade seems tranquil, but lately the man behind its well-guarded walls has been besieged by critics. Fujimori is under fire from political rivals, international election monitors and human rights advocates over allegations that he is using espionage and fraud in his bid for reelection April 9.