A GLIMMER OF HOPE IN PERU?

摘要

Peru's new government faces one of the most daunting transitions in decades, having to carefully manage internal political pressures that could unbalance the country's rebounding economy and its pandemic response. President Pedro Castillo, a political neophyte from the left-wing Peru Libre party, defeated conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori by a razor-thin margin of 44,200 votes. Ms Fujimori, making her third bid for the top office, refused to concede and her supporters have vowed that they will continue to fight. This is a near-repeat of 2016, when Ms Fujimori lost by a similar margin and her Popular Force party went after the government, contributing to the political dysfunction that led to Peru going through three presidents in a week in November 2020. The pandemic has raged alongside the political crisis, making Peru one of the hardest-hit countries in the world with the highest per-capita mortality rate from Covid-19, according to international trackers. The Castillo government has to find a way to work with Congress and political parties to manage growth, while dealing with the multiple problems created by years of political gridlock and the pandemic-induced recession. Richard Francis, a director at Fitch covering Latin American sovereigns, says the crisis has exposed numerous issues that the government has to tackle.