Pedro Castillo: President's Disapproval Grows to More Than 50% in Central and South, Report Says

Since President Pedro Castillo went to the second round of elections in 2021, together with Keiko Fujimori, he has received the majority of approval among the Peruvian population, especially in Puno, where it received more than 89 per cent of the votes, but it has not been entirely satisfied with the work of the president and his circle of work.

“We have been attentive to responding to the demands, as is the right of other regions as well, and we have neglected, I assume, attention to the Puno region and the macro-south,” President Pedro Castillo said Friday from the town of Huancané, during the fifth decentralized Council of Ministers held by his government.

In addition, only in the southern macro-region, made up of Puno, Arequipa, Apurímac, Cusco, Moquegua and Tacna, the president's disapproval currently reached 50%, according to the latest El Comercio-Ipsos survey. The rejection has grown, since in 2021, its disapproval was 21%.

In the case of the center, where Ayacucho, Huánuco, Ica, Junín, Pasco and Huancavelica belong, the disapproval, which in August last year was 39%, is now 67%, rising 28 points. To that it must be increased that the demonstrations for the stoppage of carriers took place due to the rise in fuel and fertilizer prices.

LOSS OF CONFIDENCE

In an interview with the newspaper El Comercio, political analyst Rober Villalva, commented that the president's popularity fell due to the credibility he represents in the population.

“You may be perceiving a distance, because the style of communication is no longer valued as much. In the electoral campaign, polarizing discourse was effective, but in government demands become more complex and decisions impact all citizens. The increase in the cost of living has certainly been a trigger, but discontent was already knocking on the door before. If the voter is withdrawing his trust, the president would have to seek to regain it with sound plans and concrete actions. However, it's not what you're seeing,” he explained.

In addition, he added that when a crisis such as the current one arises, the fundamental objective of a Government should be to reduce citizenship uncertainty. “The protests in regions are the new test of the government and it has been failing. An example of this lack of action is what happened in Huancayo. On the first day of the stoppage, only one sector of freight carriers participated in the protest. Then, urban carriers, farmers, and civil society joined. The crisis was poorly understood and poorly managed,” he said.

For his part, political scientist Paulo Vilca agrees that this Government has demonstrated deficiencies in its management. However, he warns that another central element in influencing disapproval is the deterioration between the relationship of citizens and the political class.

“In addition, the political capital that Castillo built towards the second round was always very weak. I think that also explains the rapid disenchantment of people in the face of their government. The context, for its part, is dramatic: high polarization, ill-advised government decisions, alarming precariousness of the public apparatus and, like cherry, the global economic conditions that also impact the country. For Castillo to fall in popularity so deeply is logical because of this mix of factors,” he recalled.

MORE DATA

The south of the country is the only area where the president exceeds 40 points of approval, since, until March, this had been 44%. In the case of Aníbal Torres's Cabinet, it reached 45% approval in the same month.

On the other hand, the macro-region that most rejects Castillo is that of the north, where it reaches 27% approval and 63% disapproval.

Across the country, the general disapproval of the government is 66%, an increase of 21 points from the 45% recorded in August 2021.

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