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Peruvians Not Impressed with President García
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Peruvian president Alan García continues to face a low rate of public support, according to a poll by Ipsos, Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado published in El Comercio. Only 30 per cent of respondents approve of García’s performance, down two points since April.
In June 2006, García—a member of the American Revolutionary People’s Alliance (APRA)—won Peru’s presidential election in a run-off against nationalist Ollanta Humala of the Union for Peru (UP). In July, García officially took over as president. He had previously served as Peru’s head of state from 1985 to 1990, when he oversaw a major economic crisis.
In October 2008, García accepted the resignation of his entire cabinet following allegations of corruption related to oil concessions. Leftist politician and Lambayeque region president Yehude Simón took over as Peru’s new prime minister.
On May 17, García allowed the country’s army to support police in handling an escalating clash with indigenous groups in the Amazon region. Native leaders have been protesting the government’s new, looser regulations to allow for the exploitation of natural resources in the area.
García defended his decision to get the army involved claiming that natural resources in the Amazon should not only benefit a "small group of people who live there," and adding, "We have to understand when there are resources like oil, gas and timber, they don’t belong only to the people who had the fortune to be born there."
Polling Data
Do you approve or disapprove of Alan García’s performance as president?
|
|
May 2009 |
Apr. 2009 |
Mar. 2009 |
|
Approve |
30% |
32% |
34% |
|
Disapprove |
62% |
63% |
60% |
Source: Ipsos, Apoyo, Opinión y Mercado / El Comercio
Methodology: Interviews with 1,000 Peruvian adults, conducted from May 13 to May 15, 2009. Margin of error is 3 per cent.