RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The decline in support for former soccer player George Forsyth of the centre-right Victoria Nacional (VN) party and the jump to second place for center-leftist Yonhy Lescano, stand out in a new poll on the intentions of presidential votes in Peru.
On February 10th, 2021, when presidential candidates were finalized, the Special Electoral Juries JEE ruled that Forsyth was disqualified from the presidential electionc citing information that was allegedly falsified and excluded from his election application.
According to the published report, the information in question involved Forsyth holding shares to various companies that were not included in his application. Following the JEE’s decision, the National Victory party still had the opportunity to appeal.
The poll, carried out by the Ipsos company ahead of the general elections on April 11th, shows Forsyth in first place with 11 points, but with a decrease of four points compared to what he had in January.
Lescano is just one point below him, with 10, four more compared to the previous month, which seems to have been taken from what Forsyth had, owing mainly to support growth in the south of the country, according to Ipsos.
The progressive candidate Veronika Mendoza remains in third place, tied with neoliberal Keiko Fujmori, with eight points; former right-wing populist general Daniel Urresti is in fifth place, showing seven percent support.
The five, taking into account the margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent, are technically equal, so they have the possibility of moving on to the second round reserved for the two most voted candidates in the first.
In a second round, according to the Ipsos poll, Forsyth would beat his four possible rivals.
The Forsyth saga
George Patrick Forsyth Sommer (born 20 June 1982) is a former international footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In 2018, he was elected as mayor of La Victoria District, Lima with the We Are Peru party. He resigned in October 2020 and announced his intention to run for President of Peru in the 2021 general elections.
Forsyth was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His father, Harold Forsyth, is a Peruvian diplomat, ambassador to the United States and China, and former congressman. His mother, María Verónica Sommer Mayer, is a former Miss Chile beauty pageant winner and her family is of German descent. He was born in Caracas while his father served in the Peruvian embassy in Venezuela. Forsyth lived a privileged childhood and was not exposed to the lifestyles of common Peruvians until he began his football career, according to Americas Quarterly.
A report from the investigative journalism website OjoPúblico – which was released between January 31st and February 3rd, 2021, a week before presidential candidates were finalized – alleged that three vehicles owned by Forsyth were gifted to him from companies he was involved with and that various companies he held shares in were not included in his electoral application form.
OjoPúblico wrote that Forsyth did not mention that he was gifted vehicles worth US$67,000 USD in his electoral documentation: a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado from Inca Rail shareholder and Crosland Kawasaki dealer Juan Forsyth Alarco, a Honda Pilot and Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R from George Forsyth’s GRT Seguridad y Control security company.
The investigation also reported that Forsyth was the founder and a shareholder of Fyvcon, a real estate company, and nine other companies.
On February 11th, George Forsyth, confirmed that he would appeal against his exclusion from the contest.