What is the role of Peru’s political party system in the country’s reform process? How can political parties engage in new activities to strengthen political commitment to poverty reduction? This paper from the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs offers an analysis of Peru’s political party system in terms of how it affects the ability of democratically elected officials to drive pro-poor change. It argues that it will take time for political competition to settle into a productive cycle of parties proposing and pursuing alternative types of reforms to address constituent concerns.
Peru’s national debate on the nature or direction of poverty reduction can be understood as a debate informed by a broad array of economic experiments, from experimental populism to fundamental free-market restructuring. Peruvians’ generalised dissatisfaction with political leadership also has strong economic roots, with half of the population still living in poverty despite the country’s improving economic performance. In the eyes of many domestic and international observers this is because the state has been unable to move reforms quickly enough to address serious inequality or poverty.
The political party system in Peru is still undergoing transformation. It will take time for political competition to settle into a productive cycle. However, the rise of regional parties and public dissatisfaction offers some evidence that the Peruvian public will demand more effective governance in return for electoral support.
- The present structure of political parties is a result of evolution through a series of historic ‘shocks’ to the political system.
- There is intense public expectation of poverty alleviation rather than poverty reduction or investment in human capital.
- There is a perception among individual political leaders that the political costs of pursuing poverty reduction may be much greater than the potential benefit of seeing such policies through. The challenge is to turn this around.
- There is a need to strengthen each party’s belief that competition for public office can and should be based on its own capacity to govern well or offer alternative responses to citizens’ needs.
- Parties must strengthen their individual capacities to coordinate the policy responses to govern well at national and local levels.
While political transition necessarily slows down many reform processes, it also makes those reforms more sustainable. Donors should focus on a combination of immediate technical assistance that contributes to greater political stability while retaining the policy flexibility needed for sustainable poverty reduction. Specific priorities should be to:
- Build capacity among elected officials to fulfil reform-related responsibilities.
- Promote legislative oversight as a monitoring mechanism; strengthen congressional representation of, and accountability to, citizens; and institutionalise communication mechanisms between local and national government.
- Support political party capacity for internal policy development and effective constituent outreach to educate the public through targeted technical assistance.
- Increase transparency of policy processes by increasing party transparency.
- Strengthen capacity of political figures to coordinate implementation of promised reforms.
- Integrate civic expertise on relevant issues into policy and reform processes by developing or institutionalising links between civic actors and political (party) actors.
