Violent street protests erupted throughout Peru yesterday as President Alberto Fujimori confirmed that tomorrow's presidential runoff vote will go ahead despite last-minute calls for a postponement.
"Peru's election process is far from free and fair," concluded the observer mission from the Organisation of American States, (OAS), which has pulled its observers out of voting districts, stripping the elections of any remaining credibility.
Mr Alejandro Toledo, a moderate economist and Mr Fujimori's only opponent in the second round of voting, pulled out of the race last week.
"This will bring Peru enormous instability, with totally unpredictable political and economic consequences," said Mr Toledo, who continues to address election rallies but has called on supporters to write "No To The Fraud" on their ballot papers. Mr Fujimori's insistence on holding the ballot may result in economic sanctions and isolation.
On Thursday, the National Elections Commission announced a 3-2 vote against postponing the elections, after a week of intense diplomatic manoeuvring between election officials, observer teams and foreign diplomats. "We are very disappointed," said Mr Eduardo Stein, head of the OAS monitor mission. "It's been a terrible week."
Mr Toledo predicted that if Mr Fujimori proceeded with the elections "he wouldn't last a year", an estimate which seemed unduly optimistic after a night of rioting which left a dozen people injured and a fire on the balcony of the presidential palace.
A group of protesters attacked the National Election Commission office, damaging windows and doors with a petrol bomb while dozens of people were arrested in the northern town of Iquitos, after blocking roads. Truck drivers and teachers held a strike in Cuzco town while students fought pitched battles with riot police in Arequipa.
The campaign turned nasty this week when unidentified men broke into the offices of Fabian Salazar, an opposition journalist believed to have compromising videos of Mr Vladimiro Monte sinos, Mr Fujimori's ruthless intelligence chief. Salazar's left wrist was cut to the bone by the burglars who tortured him and demanded his sources within intelligence circles.