The president-elect of Peru, Pedro Castillo, will begin his term on July 28 with 53% approval among Peruvians, six points more than in June, according to a poll published on Saturday.
The poll conducted by the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP) for the newspaper La República reflected that Castillo has a similar acceptance to the percentage with which he won the presidential elections (50.12%) to the right-wing Keiko Fujimori, by just 44,263 votes.
In contrast, 45% of respondents disapprove of Castillo, four points less than last month, while 2% did not express an opinion.
The rural school teacher and trade union leader of the Peruvian teachers’ union, who took part in the elections for the Marxist Free Peru party, is perceived as democratic by 45% of the population and as authoritarian by 31%, while 14% do not see him either way.
Regarding the sentiment generated by Castillo’s presidential term, 34% are hopeful and 16% confident, while 29% are uncertain, 15% afraid and 2% are angry.
“These results show that the new president will find a very complicated picture. On the one hand, a high expectation of those who voted for him, and on the other, a sense of uncertainty both of those who voted against or voted in favor, “said the head of opinion studies of the IEP, Patricia Zárate.
Although the leftist won the election with a deeply reformist program, including a new constitution to give greater power to state intervention in the economy, the majority of the population is asking him to make only partial changes to economic policy.
Although the free-market economic policy and promoter of private investment has allowed Peru to grow significantly in recent years, for Castillo it has not been enough to eliminate inequalities, which he believes have increased, especially in relation to the distribution of wealth.
In that sense, 61% of Peruvians want Castillo to “maintain the economic model, but with changes”, while 23% ask him to “totally change the economic model” and only 15% believe that Peru’s economic scheme should remain as it is.
Regarding the draft new Constitution, 58% would like “some changes to the current Constitution”, which emerged from the “self-coup” of the state of former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) in 1992.
Meanwhile, only 23% are in favour of formulating a new magna carta through a Constituent Assembly, compared with 18% who prefer the current Constitution to be maintained without any changes.
Regarding the possible participation in the government of the leader of Free Peru, Vladimir Cerrón, former governor of the Junín region with a conviction for corruption, 85% of Peruvians are against it and only 7% would see his presence in the Executive.
The survey was conducted between July 18 and 21 among 1,206 adults, with a margin of error in its results of 2.8 points.
