missions rendered similar verdicts.

11

  The government reportedly lobbied for the OAS observation on the

supposition that the OAS would act as a counterweight to the more critical Carter Center NDI.

Guatemalan foreign minister Eduardo Stein was appointed to head the mission.

Peruvian electoral law prohibits a president from campaigning while exercising official duties and from

using public funds to promote his candidacy.

12

  However, all of the international observers expressed

concerns about the possible misuse of state resources by officials to promote the electoral fortunes of the

government's Per  2000 alliance.  President Fujimori's February announcement of a program to

distribute public land to thousands of urban squatters (PROFAM) was viewed by the opposition as a

blatant wielding of state resources for electoral ends. Government propaganda painted on public sites

was also an ongoing issue in the campaign, particularly since some of the slogans were painted on the

hillsides of military installations with the approval of the Ministry of Defense. There were also

accusations that officials associated with the food aid program (PRONAA) were advising recipients that

food assistance would be removed from soup kitchens unless participants voted for Per  2000, or that

extra food rations would be rewarded in neighborhoods with a strong vote for the president.

An ostensible  opening  of commercial television to opposition candidates was slated to begin in March.

After prodding from the JNE and international observers, television outlets agreed to provide fifteen free

minutes of television time to the ten registered political organizations.  The  fifteen minute solution  did

little to remedy the continued inequalities in access and coverage of the candidates. Channels 4 and 5, for

example, aired their free time close to 11:00 pm to a reduced audience. Other developments raised

questions about the nexus between business and politics in the world of journalism. Radio 1160 in Lima

was shut down when its equipment was confiscated in legal proceedings aimed at settling the station's

debt. The confiscation coincided with the launching of the station's new political program,  Waves of

Freedom  hosted by Fujimori critic Cesar Hildebrandt.

When Alejandro Toledo of 

Per  Posible

 surged to second place in the March polls, he replaced Andrade

and Castaneda as the principal target in what fellow candidates called the government's  dirty war 

against the opposition.  New media attacks involved accusations about wrongdoing in his personal and

financial affairs, along with what Toledo maintained were distorted representations of his policy

positions, including his position on food aid.  Toledo was also accused of close ties with ex president

Alan Garcia, the symbol of the worst excesses of the populism of the 1980s.

On 29 February, a scandal broke involving an alleged forgery of a million voter signatures by the 

Frente

Nacional Independiente Per  2000

, one of the four political organizations forming Per  2000.  An

informant involved in the scheme described the operation and its supervision by a Lima district

councilman and close associate of a high level presidential advisor.  While officials reacted by calling for

an investigation and scrambling to distance themselves from 

Frente's

 felonious actions, government

opponents lodged petitions with the JNE to annul Fujimori's candidacy on the basis of the fraud

allegations.  ONPE chief Jose Portillo suggested that all political organizations trafficked in forged

signatures and that signatures on the petitions submitted by political organizations would be reviewed.

13

11

 The International Federation for Human Rights coincided with Carter NDI, while the British based Electoral

Reform International Service (ERIS), pointed to the inequities in media access and the government's unwillingness

to remedy problems in the election environment.

12

 Article 361 of the law specifically bans the president from making political statements when inaugurating or

inspecting public works projects.

13

 Portillo's remark provoked Accion Popular to file a defamation suit against Portillo for suggesting that all parties

were guilty of a criminal act.

H:\INCOMING\July24\MSI Submission\Fn Email.doc

35