Mob attacks Peru's election headquarters

Opposition supporters protest in front of the headquarters of the National Election Board in Lima on Thursday

Marchers fear possible fraud in voting process

May 25, 2000
Web posted at: 4:39 p.m. EDT (1639 GMT)

In this story: OAS calls for vote postponement Vote-tampering charges not new RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

LIMA, Peru -- Protesters angry at perceived irregularities in Peru's presidential election process attempted to storm the headquarters of Peru's National Election Board on Thursday.

Several thousand people had been marching by the building, and many of them tried to break down its doors. The marchers were demanding a postponement of Sunday's runoff election between President Alberto Fujimori and challenger Alejandro Toledo.

Riot police repelled the marchers with tear gas and surrounded the building. At least one person was injured by the canisters police threw into the crowd.

The angry protesters had burned tires on the street. Police used fire extinguishers to put out the fires.

The protests followed a call from international election monitors that Sunday's runoff between Fujimori and Toledo be postponed for 10 days due to irregularities it perceived in the government's preparations for the election.

Eduardo Stein, Organization of American States monitor head, said his mission would not carry out an independent vote count of Sunday's election because of the irregularities.

OAS calls for postponement

"This delegation cannot commit itself to the May 28 vote. We insist that for May 28, this mission does not have the capacity to carry out what they (government officials) have asked for," Stein told reporters.

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Peru election troubles

OAS monitors issued a report earlier on Thursday saying that testing of the country's ballot-counting computers on Wednesday had "a positive result."

But the organization has criticized a series of other irregularities in the electoral process, including the lack of training for vote counters.

Vote-tampering charges not new

Charges of vote rigging have been made since April's first round, when continual delays in the count sparked street protests by opposition supporters.

Opposition candidate Toledo has demanded a three-week postponement of the runoff and has said he will not recognize the result unless his demand is met.

The National Electoral Board is expected to make an announcement later on Thursday on whether it will postpone the election.

Correspondent Harris Whitbeck and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Bienvenidos al Ministerio de la Presidencia (Spanish)
Congreso de la Republica del Peru (Spanish/English)
Organization of American States
Peru Posible
CIA World Factbook: Peru

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