Peru: Two Women Contend to Become Mayor of Lima · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

On Sunday October 3 the regional and municipal elections [es] will be held in Peru, including a referendum to decide whether to return the money invested between 1979 and 1998 by workers who had their salaries discounted by the FONAVI (National Housing Fund). On Thursday September 30 most campaign closing [es] rallies were held. And since Friday the country is under the so-called “Dry Law,” prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages and the enacting of other measures, in order to guarantee the execution of these elections.
Though there are about 10 candidates [es] (9 on the race and 1 ineligible) for Mayor of Lima, the capital, it is two ladies (Lourdes Flores Nano and Susana Villarán De la Puente) who have the highest possibilities to win. Because of their party affiliation, Lourdes (from right-wing Christian People's Party, PPC) introduces herself as the one who will continue the work of the incumbent Mayor, Luis Castañeda, while Susana represents a left-wing option, sometimes referred to as —in a derogatory manner— “caviar left”. The campaign has been tough and even though Ms Flores led the polls for a while, after candidate Alex Kouri was disqualified, Susana Villarán's options started to boost until reaching the first place [es] a couple of weeks ago.
At that moment the campaign became heated, with the spreading of illegally recorded audio [es] and accusations [es] from both sides. This, despite having captured the front pages of the media during a few days, has not actually contributed to a serious debate where plans for the development of the city are the most important issue. On the other hand, this has been one of the most ideologically politicized elections in Lima's recent history. Regarding this, journalist Edgardo de Noriega writes on his blog Miscelánea [es]:
Hay un hecho para el futuro que es  evidente. Un triunfo de Susana Villaràn la convierte en una lideresa de  una corriente progresista que significaría una opción de gobierno  importante. Lo que precisamente en este momento no existe. El  pensamiento de izquierda con caudal electoral importante. … Lo que se  plantearía es una  izquierda democrática que cree en la empresa privada y en la economía de  mercado con visos sociales. Lo que representa el Presidente Lula en  Brasil y Michelle Bachelet en Chile.
On Monday September 27 a televised debate among these two female candidates was held. There were huge expectations and though it was a chance to hear general guidelines for their plans for the municipal government, there were also accusations [es], specially from Lourdes to Susana, who avoided responding directly. This caused that, for example, Juan Sheput from Mate Pastor considered [es] Ms Flores as the winner of the debate:
Lourdes, desde el primer minuto, mostró sus cartas. Eligió su estrategia  potenciando su fortaleza, la experiencia parlamentaria. Jugaba también a  su favor el hecho de no tener nada que perder. Y Susana parece que optó  por la vieja técnica del bambú, la de ser flexible ante la tormenta.  Pero eso no funciona en un debate, donde no sólo se confrontan  propuestas sino se mide el temperamento de los adversarios. … El debate lo ganó Lourdes, de lejos. Habrá que ver si le permite ganar la elección.
Silvio Rendón from the blog Gran Combo Club tries to analyze [es] the causes of this difference in attitudes, clearly visible during the debate:
Lourdes Flores fue a atacar y Susana Villarán fue a defender. La  agresividad de Flores y la bonhomía de Villarán no son condiciones  existenciales ni una cosa de principio para ninguna de las dos  candidatas, sino que responden a sus diagnósticos y estrategias sobre  cómo ganar la elección. Cuando Villarán estaba en 2% de intención de  voto comenzó atacando con las declaraciones juradas y Cataño, aquí. … Ahora que tendría 42% de intención de voto un ataque de este tipo, según  la otrora atacante, sería ilegítimo. ¿Y si no tuviera 42%? Seguramente  ahí la veríamos atacando, respondiendo; en otra actitud. Lo mismo a  Flores.
Then he evaluates what each candidate represents, and how this influences voters who don't have a candidate for their own parties or who are undecided:
En el debate se vio a una Lourdes Flores macartista, conservadora,  hablando de orden, anti-sindicalismo, anti-estatismo, etc. Valores de  las derechas. A Villarán, que evalúa que ya tiene el voto de izquierdas,  se la vio generalista, inclusiva, buscando el centro político. Para el votante fujimorista, por ejemplo, creo que Flores será definitivamente la más atractiva. … Para el votante aprista, mitad y mitad. La mitad conservadora del Apra le irá a Flores, la mitad progre a Villarán … En general, creo que con este debate, Flores impacta relativamente más  que Villarán sobre el voto a los candidatos pequeños y en los indecisos.
Of course, for those who have already decided on their vote or possess stubborn sympathies, the result of the debate is not a big influence. Justo Pachari from the blog La verdad con toda el alma picks up in one of his posts [es] the comment of a user [es] of newspaper La República‘s online forum:
Lourdes es una política vieja, escucharla es como escuchar los   argumentos de García o de cualquier otro político con mañas y   defendiendose con argumentos que no son más que calunmias. Yo creo que   si eso es lo que se evalúa ganó Lourdes, pero como en realidad yo y   muchas personas queremos un cambio, y justamente un cambio del tipo de   políticos que tenemos, en realidad Lourdes perdío, para mí es lo mismo   que otros políticos corruptos, a pesar de que no iba a votar por ella la   respetaba, pero realmente lo único que generó es que YO al igual que   mucha gente reafirmaramos nuestro compromiso por el cambio, cambio que   para nosotros es Susana Villarán
On the other hand, regarding the participation of both candidates in a variety/contest show at the local TV station (see video [es]), Isabel Guerra from Las Burbujas Recargadas wonders [es]:
Si en vez de candidatAS tuviéramos a dos  HOMBRES  encabezando las  preferencias de los votantes, ¿los habrían  invitado a  hacer el  ridículo en esa cosa tan parecida a la “noche de  talentos” de  concurso  de belleza? Tanto discurso  proequidad de género y de estas  cosas por las que se  hace pasar  a las  candidatas (con el pretexto del  show de  beneficencia) nadie dice nada.
As you might imagine campaigns have entered the Internet with some strength but it has not become their main place.  The Facebook page [es] of Fuerza Social [Social Force, es], the party supporting Susana Villarán, has 2485 fans at the time of writing this post (we should note that the party's website has not been updated since September 9), while Ms Villarán personal Facebook profile [es] shows 4783 ‘friends’ (we assume that is due to the Facebook restriction which does not allow more than 5000 ‘friends’) and her website [es] does look updated. Lourdes Flores's official Facebook page [es] has 8567 fans, while [right-wing coalition] Unidad Nacional's [National Unity, es] Facebook page [es] created for the elections has 1627 fans. The PPC website [es] (Ms Flores's party, which naturally is part of the National Unity) does not include much information and redirects to Lourdes Flores website [es], which does include more data and links to other sites. It is worth mentioning that some days ago the PPC website was hacked [es] by Villarán sympathizers, which might explain its current plain status.
Several state and private institutions have been launching initiatives [es] for citizens to vote in a more informed way about the candidates and their government plans. Finally, in an anecdotal note, while it is almost certain that the next Mayor of Lima will be a woman, she will not be the first one, because Anita Fernandini de Naranjo held this office from 1963 to 1964.