Update [2006-4-10 6:55:45 by DoDo]: Some background on the Peruvian elections:

• People will vote for President (and two vice-presidents), Congress, and the Peruvian members of the Andean Parliament.

• To win Presidency a candidate has to win 50%+1, if not in the first round then in the run-off between the first and second-placed (7 May). Congress is elected in multi-seat races in 25 regions. The Comunidad Andina de Naciones is a trade bloc modelled on the EU, of countries in the Northwest of South America; its Parliament is elected proportionally with nation-wide lists.

• Polls predicted a first-round victory for Ollanta Humala Tasso, a left-nationalist former army officer with controversal past and family, but the backing of most other left-wing leaders across South America. Runners-up are Lourdes Flores Nano, a both socially and economically right-wing candidate, and Alan García Pérez, a former left-populist President. Second round was predicted between Humala and Flores, with the latter winning.

• Official links for the elections junkies: click through from the election count mainpage (resultados=results, Barrera Electoral=seats won[?], CONGRESALES>Estadísticas>Distribución votos por organización política=distribution of votes for Congress among parties), some might be off-line

• People will vote for a lower house of Parliament and a Senate.

• After Berlusconi had the election law changed, the re will be proportional vote only. That is, people will vote on party lists in 26+2 regions (+2: the Aosta valley and Italians abroad). Parties will have to pass 2% to get in (4% if not part of a coalition), and there will be bonus seats for the winning coalition of parties.

• The Senate is similar, but winner's bonus is counted per region not nationally, and thresholds are higher.

• All parties with a chance to get in assembled into two big blocks: the left-wing L'Unione and the right-wing La Casa delle Libertà (incumbents). The former includes everything from communists and greens through the centre-left to pro-European centrist and right-of-centre splinters, the latter everything from more centre-left spliters through Berlusconi and post-fascists to the hardcore racists of the Northern League and Mussolini's granddaughter. The last polls showed a 4-6% leftist advantage.

• Official links for the elections junkies: participation main page with results [slow!].

• Two-round mixed election system:
  1. In the first round, people vote for individual candidates in 176 election districts, and separately on party lists in 20 regions.
  2. Where none got 50%+1, all individual candidates above 15%/the first 3 individual candidates go into a runoff (second round) two weeks later.
  
  
• The distribution of seats for votes is rather complex, here is a simplified version:
  1. there will be the 176 individually elected candidates,
  2. up to 152 seats will be distributed among the party lists in the 20 regions,
  3. to somewhat compensate 1), surplus list votes and the first-round votes of losing individual candidates are added, and according to them, at least 58 seats are distributed between national party lists.
  
  
• According to polls 8 days ago, parties with a chance to get in (i.e. pass 5% nationally or 10% in one of the regions): MSzP (Socialists) 43-46%, Fidesz (Young Democrats, right-populist) 39-43%, SzDSz (Free Democrats, [neo]liberal) 4.8-5.5% (incumbents: MSzP-SzDSz coalition)

• Official links for election junkies: participation, results (after 19h Central European Summer Time)

I couldn't resist this article that Fran noted from The News in yesterday's European Breakfast: Berlusconi unfit to be Italian PM’

LONDON: Silvio Berlusconi does not deserve to be re-elected as Italy's prime minister in this weekend's vote, The Economist said on Friday, calling instead for Italians to elect his rival. The magazine said it stood by its view from the 2001 election that the Forza Italia party leader was "unfit" for office because of his conflicting media business interests and alleged involvement in financial scandal.(...)

In a damning opinion piece entitled "Basta, Berlusconi" (Enough, Berlusconi), the authoritative weekly said the 69-year-old had done little to resolve the conflicts of interests created by his ownership of the three main private television companies in Italy.

His premiership, meanwhile, had been "disfigured, by repeated attempts, including an avalanche of new laws, to help him avoid conviction in legal trials."

Those efforts had "besmirched" prosecutors and judges as well as undermined the credibility of the country's legal system, it added, noting that there had been an overall rise in corruption, tax evasion and illegal building.

We are watching today's election with a great deal of interest...