Election ‘Super Sunday’ continues amid a new corona wave in South America

Amid growing concerns across South America about the development of a new, more contagious form of the corona virus from Brazil, three countries on the continent called their citizens to the polls this Sunday. Chile has recently postponed a new constitutional assembly election due to rising epidemics, but Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia continue to hold elections.Super Sunday‘Door.

Political stalemate in Peru

Peru installed one of the longest and hardest locks in the world during the first wave last year. Earlier this year, another Disabling And applies even on Sundays in the most affected areas A curfew order one day. But this Sunday, 25 million Peruvians with the right to vote must go out to elect a new president and Congress.

Read more Peru intervenes severely, but the corona virus attacks hard – what’s wrong?

Voting is mandatory: Anyone who does not show up will be fined. For those living in ‘very poor neighborhoods’ it changes from 22 soles (converted to 5 euros) to 88 soles in ‘non-poor neighborhoods’. More than half a million Peruvians have been chosen as the staff of a polling station. It costs 220 souls (50 euros) to relinquish that civic duty. By comparison, the average wage in the capital, Lima, is currently 1,500 – less than 12 percent of the wage level just before the epidemic. Calculated statistics firm INEI recently.

Postponing the election is not a serious option in Peru. The ballot box must provide a way out of the deep political stalemate that has arisen in recent years. Corona is not the main concern of voters: it is so far corrupt. Many scandals (rapid vaccinations for construction company Odebrecht and more recently for major Peruvians) have left the South American country out of control. With presidents quickly winning over each other, Congress and its parties no longer believe that Congress is now fragmented.

Also read: South America is mired in corruption

The impetus for the political establishment is reflected in the Motley collection of candidates running for president. Among them are some notable foreigners such as former national football team goalkeeper George Forsyth and internationally renowned economist Hernando de Soto. In a recent poll published by the newspaper Republic Released last week, none of the candidates reached more than 10 percent. The second round of elections, scheduled for June 6, seems inevitable.

Peruvian voters march to a polling station in the capital, Lima, on Sunday.
Photo by Martin Magia / AP

Ecuador and Bolivia are also unstable

In Ecuador, elections are being held in the wake of a political war over corruption. Here goes the second round of elections between young left-wing presidential candidate Andres Aras, 36, and his center-right rival, Guillermo Lasso. Aras is seen as a student of former populist president Rafael Correa, who was stationed in Louvain after allegations of corruption. If Aras wins, Cora will be able to return from his Belgian exile.

Ecuador also elects a new president today. A voter in the capital, Quito, has taken his dog to the polls.
Photo by Louisa Gonzalez / Reuters

During the first round on February 7, the virus was already on the rise in Ecuador. Since then, the pollution curve has widened further and new measures have come into effect. The people of Ecuador are also obliged to vote, not for voters over the age of 65, and polling staff are recruited mainly from students.

Bolivia, which entered a deep political crisis in late 2019, is holding regional elections when President Evo Morales fled after allegations of electoral fraud. Governors are to be elected in nine departments and mayors are to be elected in 336 municipalities. Morales’ Socialist Party (now back in the country) is expected to increase the land.