Luis Castañeda Lossio – A Dark Horse in a Long Race

From the numbers, the two-term mayor of Lima – Luis Castañeda Lossio – is the man to beat in Peru. In a country where polls are brutal on politicians, Castañeda has enjoyed phenomenal approval ratings since he was elected to lead the capital in 2002.

The most recent poll, conducted by Apoyo Opinión y Mercado, placed the mayor’s approval rating at 77 percent. In comparison, approval ratings for President Alan García have not risen above 35 percent in more than a year. Former President Alejandro Toledo saw his numbers dip into the single digits on several occasions.

As a result, Castañeda’s name pops up often as a dark horse possibility for the 2011 presidential elections. But the question is whether he has the legs to compete on the larger track. In 2000, he failed to qualify for the presidential runoffs when he ran as candidate of his own party, National Solidarity. In 2006, Castañeda chose to sit out the national contest. Instead, in November 2006, he won a second term as mayor – a position that will end as the next presidential race begins heating up.

“He seems to attract loyal supporters, largely as a result of his ability to carry out public works, but he has not yet shown the political capacity to project himself nationally,” said Maxwell Cameron, a professor of political science at the University of British Columbia who has monitored Peruvian politics for more than two decades.

The silver-haired Castañeda, who will turn 64 on June 21 and is a lawyer by training, has made public works the hallmark of his administration. In the past six years, the city has seen a massive overhaul of the transportation corridors and an increased focus on urban renewal, an effort that has included building hospitals in shantytowns. His administration has finished one line of the Metro and is building a second one to link the eastern part of the capital with Callao on the coast. Castañeda’s goal is to transform Lima’s chaotic public transportation system through the Metropolitano, a bus system connecting far-flung shantytowns with the dense urban core.

Castañeda’s administration has not been without controversy. The bus system inauguration has been delayed. Political opponents criticized him for building a road through the University of San Marcos without the university’s authorization.

But what may prove to be the biggest problem for Castañeda is the fact that Lima’s nine million residents make up only one-third of the Peru’s population. The other two-thirds consist of the Andean nation’s poorest citizens. And no Lima mayor – no matter how popular – has been able to use the position as a springboard to the presidential palace. — C.J. Schexnayder