Peru and the Fujimori Presidential Breakdown in 2000: Continuismo Gone Bad

Abstract

The regime that Fujimori established in Peru after his 1992 autogolpe has generally been characterized as an electoral authoritarian regime. Elections serve a dual purpose and have an inbuilt contradiction under electoral authoritarian regimes: on the one hand, they are a source of both internal and external legitimacy; on the other, they threaten incumbents, since they are by nature uncertain and provide an opportunity for political opponents to gain power. Elections therefore create a serious dilemma for authoritarian incumbents: they must choose between allowing fair play at the cost of possible defeat, and violating democratic rules at the cost of generating domestic protest and international repudiation, which may lead to regime crisis.