I am not really a Garcia nor an APRA supporter. But you have to give them credit. At least all their people who got something to say are more or less on the same page.

This is definitely not the case with the opposition. The UPP and Humala really did change the political landscape in Peru by raising awareness and the people’s conscience for the very serious problems of this country’s society. However, and this is what really bothered me throughout their campaign: one hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. It’s a potpourri of disagreements and a veggie soup of misunderstandings. A new day, another opinion by some so-called spokesperson or official followed by another rebuttal, another justification, another denial by someone else who people have never seen before.

Two days ago the founder and chairman of UPP, the grouping that lent its banner to nationalist Ollanta Humala for his failed presidential bid, said that the unsuccessful hopeful no longer leads his party.
Probably caught off guard while relaxing a little from the last months campaign torture, Humala’s rebuttal and clarification was swift.

After becoming the biggest force in the new Congress with 45 of the 120 seats, Humala announced that he wants to lead this force against new president-elect Alan Garcia and his government. “Frankly I don’t have confidence in Mr. Alan Garcia. He has lead the worst government we have had”, he said at a conference with the foreign press in reference to Garcia’s first time in power between 1985 and 1990, a mandate that ended in an acute economic crisis.
“Obviously we are going to constitute ourselves as the main block of the opposition, and we will not stop our fight against Mr. Alan Garcia in order to defend the interests of Peru. The political reality will be determind whether in Congress or in the streets”, he added.

One reason for this hodgepodge is the ever changing political party landscape in Peru. Parties are coming and going, coalitions are formed and then disappear like a bubble in a lava lamp. It almost seems that new political groupings are established on a daily basis, especially in the short time before an election. The party that won the presidential election 5 years ago has been buried in oblivion today. Toledo’s ‘Peru Posible’ party barely made it into the new congress with 2 seats by jumping the 4 % hurdle. All cards are collected and reshuffled every five years for a whole new game, something unheard of in other stable democracies, the US or in Europe for example where political parties are an institution, their time of existance and longevity is only surpassed by a few baseball and football clubs and probably the Rotary club.

The exception to the rule, the one and only Peruvian political grouping that distinguishes itself from the rest is the APRA. They have weathered all political storms and economic tsunamis, only to come out on top again. Consistency, stability, reliablity, and a well organized structure pays off not only in business but also in politics. The people are getting used to always seeing the same leaders and officials, they are familiar faces whether they like them or not, they represent familiar faces.

Even if Garcia should fail for a second time, the APRA will probably survive again and re-emerge like a phoenix from the ashes.

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