Clinton, Britney Figure in Peru Election Process
L I M A, Peru, Jan. 8 -- President Clinton and popidol Britney Spears are among a host of false names appearingon lists meant to register would-be Peruvian presidentialcandidates for this year’s election, a local daily reported.
Election officials sifting through thousands of signatureson the registers found Peruvians had penned names such asRussian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian soccer legendPele, OJO newspaper reported Sunday.
Peru’s presidential hopefuls, who want to run in the April8 election, have been rushing to collect the 120,000 signatureseach needs to officially register their candidacy before a deadline today.
Traditionally, politicians try to gather many more namesthan the required number because in most elections about halfof all signatures turn out to be forgeries or discounted due toirregularities.
Catching John Doe
“What happens is that citizens are asked to sign up andthey put down a false name, surname and signature,” Medardo Sanchez, spokesman for RENIEC, the organization which verifiessignatures, told OJO.
With thousands of false names being discovered everyelection year, few Peruvians blame the candidates and believeresponsibility lies with the signatories in this Andean nationof 26 million people.
But ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s political party wasaccused last year of deliberately forging over a millionsignatures to register his candidacy for a vote in which heeventually won a third term.
This year’s elections are being held after Fujimori wasousted amid corruption scandals.
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