Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.news From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: President's allies win control of new parliament in Peru Date: Mon, 23 Nov 92 15:07:21 EST Message-ID: \SE A;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD President's allies win control of new parliament in Peru \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT LIMA, Peru LIMA, Peru (AP) - President Alberto Fujimori's allies won control of a new parliament yesterday in elections boycotted by main opposition parties, according to unofficial projections. The returns appeared to indicate support for Mr. Fujimori's authoritarian measures to defeat Shining Path rebels and liberalize Peru's troubled economy. With military backing, Mr. Fujimori dissolved parliament in April to impose one-man rule, accusing lawmakers of hampering his fight on guerrillas and drug traffickers. The president's supporters took 42.6 percent of the vote and 44 seats in the 80-member assembly, said APOYO, the nation's most respected polling firm. Official results will not be available for several weeks. APOYO said the Popular Christian Party was in second place with 8.2 percent and eight seats. The remaining votes were divided among smaller parties, and 15.6 percent of the ballots were blank, the group reported. APOYO's chief pollster Alfredo Torres said the survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent, but that should not effect projections on the number of seats won. The survey was based on 20,000 interviews. The Shining Path, a fanatical Maoist group weakened by the capture of its leader two months ago, threatened to disrupt the voting. At least half a dozen small bombs exploded around the capital yesterday, injuring two people with cuts from glass shards. The government deployed 100,000 soldiers and police to protect voters and polling stations against possible attacks by rebels. There were more than 11 million registered voters, and turnout appeared to be high. The 80-member assembly will rewrite the constitution and sit until 1995. Eighteen parties and movements fielded candidates. About 250 international observers monitored the vote for fairness. Mr. Fujimori said the vote would restore a "balance of power" in Peru and allow him to "begin the modernization of the country." But Peru's two largest parties - the left-leaning Aprista party and the centrist Popular Action - boycotted the elections, charging they would only serve to consolidate Mr. Fujimori's rule. "We believe that we should not be accomplices in this comedy," former President Fernando Belaunde Terry, leader of Popular Action, said Saturday. Voters in the capital defied the guerrillas by lining up by the hundreds to cast their ballots at schools used as polling stations. Troops armed with assault rifles kept a close watch and ordered vehicles to park at least 100 yards away to protect against possible car bombs. Police and military helicopters flew overhead. The war has killed more than 25,000 people, caused $22 billion in damage and paralyzed Peru's economy. In the week before the elections, a series of rebel bombings in Lima killed three people and wounded nearly 50. It was the rebels' biggest string of attacks in Lima since Shining Path founder and chieftain Abimael Guzman was captured in September and sentenced to life in prison. Election officials in two Andean cities where guerrilla attacks are frequent suspended a requirement that voters dip their index fingers in indelible ink after voting. In previous elections, the rebels have cut off fingers and hands of voters in the region. The requirement was suspended in the southern Andean city of Ayacucho, birthplace of the Shining Path's insurgency, and in Huancayo in the central Andes. Buses stayed off the streets, and businesses were closed in the two cities after the rebels ordered all commerce to stop in an attempt to disrupt the vote. Shotgun-toting peasant militias, including Indian women, joined army patrols in Huancayo to protect voters. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM