Ultra-conservative businessman Rafael López Allaga, the “Peruvian Bolsonaro”, took the lead this Monday (3) in the race for mayor of Lima, Peru, ahead of retired general Daniel Urresti after tallying 97% of the vote.

López Allaga is aiming to win the mayoral election in Lima, Peru. Photo: Chris Buronkle/AFP/ND

López Allaga received 23.58% of the vote, according to a new report from the electoral body Onpe (National Directorate of Electoral Processes), surpassing Urresti (22.76%), who on Sunday evening (2) led the dispute in the first report of the election of mayors and governors.

“The victory of Lopez Allaghi is undeniable. […]the trend is irreversible,” political scientist and former head of Onpe Fernando Tuesta tweeted.

Lima, the country’s main polling place, drew attention to Sunday’s elections, which took place peacefully in all the cities of the Amazon, the mountains and the coast of Peru.

For López Allaga, the post of mayor is a consolation prize of sorts, having lost out to left-handed incumbent Pedro Castillo in the 2021 presidential election. The entrepreneur took third place.

“I would ask Mr. Castillo to resign immediately for the good of the country. Let him go into exile in the country and leave us alone,” he said in his first reaction after the victory, denying any intention to run for president in 2026.

Urresty said on Monday he would accept the official result and did not intend to “make any complaints”.

“When you reach 100% [da apuração] and Onpe announces the winner, we all have to accept it,” said the leader of the centre-right Podemos party, which is on trial for the murder of a journalist in 1988, during a conflict between the Maoist guerrilla group Sendero Luminoso and military forces.

“Pig”

Affectionately called “Porky” by his followers, López Allaga, 61, has been compared to President Bolsonaro during the 2021 campaign, in which he revealed that he is Opus Dei and celibate and that he flogs himself.

The businessman promised an “investment shock” if elected mayor. The winner is to be announced in the coming days by the electoral jury, although there may be objections from Urresti.

He made his fortune leading a business group that includes trains between Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, and the famous citadel of Machu Picchu, and directly employs about 10,000 people.

Nearly 25 million Peruvians were called to the polls to elect 25 regional governors, 196 provincial mayors and 1,694 municipal mayors. Voting is compulsory in Peru.

The campaign was not enthusiastic and focused on the prestige of the candidates rather than proposals or ideologies.

In the provinces, candidates from local movements not affiliated with national parties led the elections, but the final results will be known within a week.

Castillo loses seat

According to political analyst Augusto Alvarez Rodrich, the election of an ultra-conservative in Lima “would give the impression that the government [esquerdista] Pedro Castillo will lose political space.” However, according to Rodrich, the new mayor “will mature politically.”

Like Peru, which has had five presidents in five years, Lima has not escaped political tensions and suspicions of corruption.

Former mayors Susana Villarán (2011-2014) and Luis Castaneda (2003-2010 and 2014-2018) were on remand after the Odebrecht construction scandal.

In addition, mayor Jorge Muñoz was unexpectedly removed in April, and his term ended in December 2022. His mistake was that he simultaneously acted as director of a public company for the production of drinking water in Lima.