ELECTION RESULTS (64 PERCENT REPORTING): HUMALA

C O N F I D E N T I A L LIMA 001365 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/10/2016 TAGS: PGOV PINR PE SUBJECT: ELECTION RESULTS (64 PERCENT REPORTING): HUMALA HAS MODEST LEAD; FLORES EDGING GARCIA FOR SECOND RUN-OFF SPOT BUT IT IS STILL TOO CLOSE TO CALL REF: A. LIMA 1346 ¶B. LIMA 1277 Classified By: Political Counselor Alexander Margulies. Reason: 1.4(d) . -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (U) With 64 of voting tables reporting, the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) reports the following results in the presidential race: Union por el Peru's (UPP) Ollanta Humala 24.9 percent, Unidad Nacional's (UN) Lourdes Flores 23.4 percent, APRA's Alan Garcia 22.3 percent. Humala appears to have a lock on qualifying for the second round, but the criticism leveled at him over the past two weeks by political opponents and the media seems to have reduced his nationwide support dramatically, making him vulnerable in the run-off against either Flores or Garcia. Flores may be slightly ahead at this stage in the counting, but the outcome remains too close to call. ONPE has yet to report significant results from the congressional races. According to the Apoyo Consultancy's exit polling, however, APRA and the UPP are forecast to run neck-and-neck for first, with UN and the Fujimorista Alliance for the Future (AF) in a battle for third place. Since legislators are elected on an electoral district basis, however, UPP could well emerge with the largest congressional bloc, with APRA a close second and UN and AF far behind. The turn-out was approximately 90 percent, and the voting was free, fair and transparent, with only a few minor irregularities and incidents (one involving Humala). END SUMMARY. -------------- THE PRESIDENTIAL VOTE COUNT -------------- ¶2. (U) The National Office of Electoral Processes is providing regular updates of its vote count (available at www.onpe.gob.pe). As of 12:00 local time 4/10, with 64 percent of voting tables reporting, the results were: -- Ollanta Humala - 24.9 percent -- Lourdes Flores - 23.4 percent -- Alan Garcia - 22.3 percent ¶3. (C) Moises Benamor (Strictly Protect),Deputy Chief of the OAS Electoral Observer Mission, requesting that we maintain strict confidentiality, told Polcouns 4/10 that the results of the OAS election day quick count of a representative sampling of voting tables were: -- Ollanta Humala - 29.04 percent -- Alan Garcia - 26.08 percent -- Lourdes Flores - 25.59 percent Benamor noted that the quick count's margin or error was one percent, which made the contest for second place a "technical tie." ¶4. (U) The pro-democracy NGO Transparencia also carried out a quick count of a representative sampling of voting tables. Its results were: -- Ollanta Humala - 29.9 percent -- Lourdes Flores - 24.4 percent -- Alan Garcia - 24.3 percent As with the OAS, Transparencia's quick count found the race for second place a "technical tie," well within the margin of error. -------------- THE CONGRESSIONAL RACES -------------- ¶5. (U) ONPE is reporting the results of the congressional races electoral district by electoral district (the 24 departments plus Callao, with metropolitan Lima lumped in with Lima Department). As of 12:00 on 4/10, ONPE has processed less than three percent of voting table results, which are as yet inaccessible on its webpage. ¶6. (U) The Apoyo Consultancy, based on its election day exit poll, forecast the following nationwide percentages and likely distribution of seats. Congressional slots are determined by the percentage of votes each party/alliance receives within each separate electoral district, so the actual number of seats won by each party/alliance can differ markedly from the number their nationwide vote take would suggest. According to Apoyo, the percentage of the nationwide vote and the number of seats taken by each party/alliance is: -- APRA: 20.4 percent - 35 seats -- UPP: 20.3 percent - 43 seats -- Unidad Nacional 15.4 percent - 19 seats -- Alliance for the Future 13.3 percent - 15 seats -- Centrist Front 7.6 percent - 5 seats -- National Restoration 4.0 percent - 3 seats (Alliance for the Future is the pro-Fujimori party, the Centrist Front is the alliance headed by former Interim President Valentin Paniagua, National Restoration is led by Christian evangelical pastor Humberto Lay Sun). -------------- MINIMAL IRREGULARITIES -------------- ¶7. (U) OAS Observer Mission DCM Benamor termed the election as transparent, "normal," and "peaceful," with no/no really serious incidents and only minor irregularities. He noted that the incident involving Humala (infra) made for sensational press, but did not/not result in any injuries or disruptions to the voting process. This positive assessment was shared by ONPE director Magdalena Chu, the media, and Embassy's 38 volunteers serving with the OAS Observer Mission, who witnessed approximately 90 percent of Peru's registered voters turn out for a festive exercise of their suffrage obligations. -------------- HUMALA BESIEGED -------------- ¶8. (U) Two Emboffs serving with the OAS Mission happened to be on the scene when Humala arrived to vote at the Ricardo Palma University in the upper-middle class Surco District. A hostile crowd, initially numbering a few dozen, but quickly swelling to several hundred, gathered around him. As Humala's entourage attempted to guide him about 200 yards to his polling place in the Engineering Faculty, the crowd began pushing against his bodyguards, yelling "Murderer" and "You are just like Chavez," while additional voters gathered along the inner courtyard railings of the four-story building hooting and shouting abuse at him. Although a robust on the upper floors of the university to hoot and shout insults at him. As Humala left the building, he was escorted by Venezuelan National Elections Council (CNE) President Jorge Rodriguez, who was on the scene ostensibly as an "international observer." Following this incident, Humala held a press conference at his campaign headquarters where he accused Flores, Garcia and President Alejandro Toledo of being the "intellectual authors" of a "political ambush" against him, but provided no/no evidence to back up his allegations. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶9. (SBU) The ONPE partial results, as well as the OAS and Transparencia quick counts and the forecasts of the major polling organizations, all point to Humala finishing first, but obtaining less than 30 percent of the national vote. This is in line with the Apoyo polling leading up to the election (Refs),which showed Humala's support dropping precipitously over the past few weeks as his political opponents and the media focused on the anti-democratic actions, contacts and pronouncements of the candidate, his family and his entourage. Consequently, Humala looks increasingly vulnerable in the second round against either Flores or Garcia. The race to take on Humala in the run-off remains too close to call, with the OAS and Transparencia quick counts giving contrary results, both well within the margin of error. END COMMENT. STRUBLE