It’s election season in Lima. In less than three months, Limeños will go to the polls to choose the successor for outgoing Mayor Luis Castañeda Lossio who will be running in the April 2011 presidential contest. Although there are two frontrunners, 12 candidates have formally registered to run in the October 3 mayoral contest.

Here is a brief summary of each candidate:

• Lourdes Flores: the leading candidate in the race. She is a center-right candidate and is the leader of the Partido Popular Christano (PPC). Flores ran for the presidency in Peru twice and came in third place both times. Her campaign is based on reforming security and public transportation.
• Álex Kouri: currently in second place. Kouri is the current mayor of the city of Callou.  He has a reputation for completing public works projects, but also has recently been tainted by scandal. He is from the Cambio Radical party, which leans to the right.
• Humberto Lay: candidate from the Restauración Nacional party. He is currently tied with Fernando Andrade for third place. Lay is an Evangelist candidate and founder of the church Iglesia Alianza Cristiana y Misionera who has focused his campaign on fighting corruption.  He came in second place in the 2006 Lima mayoral contest.
  
• Fernando Andrade: member of the Somos Peru party. Tied with Humberto Lay for third place, Andrade is a former mayor of Miraflores, a wealthy district of Lima.   His brother, Alberto Andrade, founded the party and was a popular mayor of Lima, winning the 2002 election with a clear majority.  With Alberto’s death, Fernando has sought to follow his political path.
• Susana Villarán: the leftist candidate and a member of the Fuerza Social party.  She is the most popular candidate on Facebook.  Her campaign is focused on providing more nutrition to the poor by reforming the Vaso de Leche program and Comedor Populares.  She is also concerned about security and public transportation.
• Maria Eugenia de la Puente: member of the Partido Humanista.  Her father was a leader in the leftist movement.  She is a business owner and has focused her campaign on cleaning up the image of Lima.
• Raul Canelo: member of the Partido Fonavista. His candidacy is based on fighting for a referendum to restore funds for the Fondo Nacional de Vivienda, which was a social program designed to increase workers’ access to funding. He is well-known lawyer throughout Lima.
• Alex Gonzalez: member of the Partido Siempre Unidos.  He is an ecologist and is presenting himself as the “green candidate,” with a platform that includes creating a green transportation system.
• Luis Iberico: member of the Alianza para el Progreso party.  He is a former reporter and congressman and was a major figure in the media in opposition to the Fujimori government. He is a centrist candidate.
• Carlos Roca: member of the Partido Aprista—the political party of President Alan Garcia.  He promises to travel to every corner of Lima and learn about problems within each community.
• Gonzalo Alegría: member of the Accion Popular party.  His campaign is focused on security, order and development.
• Walter Ibañez: member of the Todos por el Perú party.

Stay tuned as this blog looks in greater depth at some of the issues being addressed in the mayoral campaign.

*Sabrina Karim is a contributing blogger currently living in Lima, Peru, as part of a Fulbright Fellowship.