PRESIDENTIAL AMBITIONS IN PERU : POLITICAL SATIRE / THE ECONOMIST ( RECOMMENDED READING )

Presidential ambitions in Peru

Political satire

Feb 25th 2010 LIMA
From The Economist print edition

Jaime Bayly’s breath of fresh air

WHEN it comes to Peruvian writers seeking the presidency, history threatens to repeat itself as farce. In 1990 Mario Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America’s foremost novelists, enraged by a government attempt to nationalise his country’s banks, cast aside his pen and threw himself into politics. Opinion polls at first made him a shoo-in for the presidency. Fortunately for the cause of literature, if not for Peruvian public life, he was defeated by Alberto Fujimori.

This month Jaime Bayly, a writer of humorous novels of rather lesser stature who is also a television talk-show host, has launched his candidacy for a presidential election due in April 2011. Like Mr Vargas Llosa, Mr Bayly is a liberal. But he is a highly irreverent one. Mop-haired and rumpled, he talks freely about his bisexuality (he says that at the moment he prefers women but that this might once again change); his taste for mood-altering pills that are apparently damaging his liver; his past cocaine habit and his continuing fondness for an occasional joint. His television programmes, broadcast in Colombia and Peru (he previously worked in Miami), mercilessly mock Venezuela’s leftist president, Hugo Chávez.

His policies are just as politically incorrect. He favours legalising abortion and same-sex marriages. He would eliminate centuries-old privileges enjoyed by the Catholic church. He wants to abolish the armed forces and spend their budget on improving state schools. In another constitutional proposal—this one smacks of populism—he would cut the number of lawmakers in Peru’s single-chamber Congress from 120 to just 25. He defies Peruvian nationalism by saying that the government should not have filed a claim against neighbouring Chile over their maritime-border dispute, because it will not win.

A survey this month by Ipsos-APOYO, a polling firm, shows there is no clear favourite in a crowded field of presidential wanabees. Only 22% backed the leading candidate, Luis Castañeda, the mayor of Lima. Mr Bayly has the support of 5%. He appeals to young voters, and could tap into the national frustration with traditional politicians. But he is from the Lima upper class. It remains to be seen whether he can appeal to poorer Peruvians. Or indeed whether he will run. Humour, seriousness and narcissism fight for supremacy within Mr Bayly’s ego. He may have some fun keeping Peru guessing. In a recent weekly column he mused about turning 50 in 2015, and said that by then he plans to write, travel, have sex and smoke pot—not be “president of Peru or any other tribe.”

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