Presidential Elections in Peru:

Political Scenarios in a Tightening Race

Freedom House and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) invite you to the first of a series of roundtable discussions around the presidential elections taking place in Latin America during 2011.  This first event will focus on the Peruvian elections scheduled for April 10^th. The final weeks leading up to the elections have been characterized by uncertainty, as recent polls show a potentially fragmented incoming congress and a close race among the five presidential candidates vying to compete in a second-round runoff. The event will discuss the likely scenarios and their implications for Peru's democratic governance and human rights agenda.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

9:00-10:30 a.m.

Light breakfast will be served

Freedom House

1301 Connecticut Ave NW, 4^th Floor, Washington D.C.

Speakers

Manuel Alcántara, Political Science Professor at University of Salamanca, Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Notre Dame University   

Javier La Rosa, Board of Directors, Institute for Legal Defense (IDL), Peru

Miriam Kornblith, Director, Latin American and the Caribbean, NED

With introductory remarks by David Kramer, Executive Director of Freedom House

To RSVP, please click here.  

Biographical Information

Manuel Alcántara is a renowned political scientist and scholar with over 24 years of research experience and numerous publications on parliamentary elites, political parties, and legislatures in Latin America. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute of the University of Notre Dame and has been a political science professor at the University of Salamanca in Spain since 1993.

Javier La Rosa is a lawyer and the Coordinator of the Life Justice Program at the Legal Defense Institute (IDL) of Peru, a civil society organization that promotes human rights, democracy and peace in Peru and in Latin America. He is also a professor at the Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) and author of several publications on conflict resolution, access to justice, and domestic violence.

Miriam Kornblith is a Venezuelan Sociologist and Political Scientist. She developed her academic career as a professor and researcher at of the Institute of Political Studies at the Central University of Venezuela. Kornblith's study of the contemporary Venezuelan political system spans constitutional reform, political institutions and parties and electoral processes, and she has published extensively on those topics. From 1998 to 1999 she served as the Vice-President and a member of the board of directors of National Electoral Council of Venezuela.  Currently, she is the Director of Latin American and Caribbean Programs at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC.

David J. Kramer is the Executive Director of Freedom House and an Adjunct Professor at the Elliott School for International Affairs at The George Washington University. Prior to joining Freedom House, he was a Senior Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund and served as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) from March 2008 to January 2009. He has held several positions in the Department of State and various non-governmental organizations.