Judging by the polls and the mock voting that we saw last week, it is most likely that Renovación Popular will win the municipal elections in Lima on October 4. And, judging by the fearful behavior he exhibits every time he is asked about it, it is also most likely that the president of the National Election Jury, Roberto Burneo, will end up giving the mayor’s credentials to someone who, according to the Constitution, could not run for office on this occasion. That is, Rafael López Aliaga. We are not talking, of course, about an inexorable destiny. The residents of the capital have seen cases of candidates for that same position who felt like winners a few days before we went to the polls and finished third… But, we repeat, it is the most probable and it makes sense, therefore, to reflect on the situation in which Porky would come to sit again in the chair of Nicolás de Ribera the Elder.
Illustration: Trade
The eventual triumph, to begin with, would have an undeniable flavor of a consolation prize, since we all know that the true dream of the character in question was something else. He would also have to start a management in which he could not resort to the old trick of blaming the previous administration to justify the lack of results in the short term (for the simple reason that that administration was his and that of his ‘side kick’ Renzo Reggiardo). And, finally, he would be permanently trying to disprove the accusations that his electoral opponents have leveled at him throughout the campaign and, above all, in the debates at the beginning of this week. Namely, that, as mayor and politician, he has essentially been a liar, a brawler and ineffective: shambles from which, we fear, he will not be able to shake off easily.
—Bundle of debts—
Being at the top of the polls always has a cost: that of becoming the piñata of the party. The further away they feel from victory, the greater the temptation will be for small candidates to line up to beat the candidate who has the points they need. On this occasion, however, the Smurfs have suddenly found themselves with clubs twice their size in their hands. To cite just a few examples, let us remember that López Aliaga said that he would not resign as mayor to try for the presidency and that his word was worth gold, and yet he ended up doing so. Who in recent times has distributed insults among journalists and electoral authorities with Christmas munificence. And that the idea that it would transform Lima into a “world power” would seem today to have been a cruel joke improvised four years ago. If his time at the Metropolitan Municipality left us anything, it is a burden of debts that are as ridiculous as they are bulky… And all that grease is what his minuscule adversaries were responsible for smearing on his chest in the debates a few days ago, whether he was present in the room or not.
In any case, in the opinion of this small column, the mutiny squeezed him. Like trying to swat away mosquitoes, Porky exhausted himself in the effort to repel the combined attack and failed. Partly because he did not have the talent to do it and partly because what is true simply cannot be disproved. Sooner or later, we believe, the dubious virtues that adorn the political animal that lives in him will hunt him down and make him pay a high price. Therefore, as a man of faith, you should perhaps rehearse some prayers so that this does not happen before next Sunday. Because the improbable sometimes has the good taste of coming true.
*El Comercio opens its pages to the exchange of ideas and reflections. In this plural framework, the Diario does not necessarily agree with the opinions of the columnists who sign them, although it always respects them.
