Election Results in Portugal, Peru

     The recent election results in Portugal and Peru were mixed.  The Portuguese ousted the Socialist government which had adopted an austerity program that included raising taxes, even on the poor.  The center-right Social Democrats will return to power, although they may have to form a coalition government with a conservative party.  Portugal is being bailed out of its fiscal crisis by the European Monetary Union after having overspent with borrowed funds to finance its welfare state and low worker productivity, like Greece.  The new Portuguese government will have to continue the austerity program, but one that stimulates growth through lower taxes instead.

     In Peru, the leftist candidate has apparently defeated the rightist one in a close race.  The leftist is an admirer of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, but had to back away from some of his more radical positions.  The rightist candidate had the albatross around her head of being the daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.  Fujimori had defeated the vicious Shining Path Maoist rebels, among other accomplishments, but was imprisoned for alleged corruption.  Thus, Peruvians felt that had two bad choices to make.  The new president will be monitored for any potential backsliding from representative democracy to authoritarianism.  Already investors are losing confidence in the Peruvian market.  Peru, has a free trade agreement with the United States, negotiated under the Administration of President George W. Bush, which has been beneficial to Peru and contributed to its relative prosperity.

     As I have been posting, election results worldwide have suggested a rightward shift in the last two years.  Even the relatively few victories by the left, as in Peru, have been narrow and achieved only by promising the maintenance of successful conservative, free-market policies.