LIMA: Peru has elected the first congressman of indigenous descent in its history, with Eduardo Nayap Kinin winning a seat in Congress for the northern Amazon region, officials said.
According to final results from the National Office of Electoral Processes, 55-year-old Nayap Kinin, with the Gana Peru party, beat out rival Jose Maslucan with 100 percent of votes tallied -- 17,556 to 16,051.
"I am not only representative of the people of Wampis and Awajun, but I am a representative of the entire Amazon region," he said, quoted by the website peru.com.
One of his major goals once he arrives in Congress, he said, is to investigate the violent June 2009 clashes between authorities and native groups protesting for indigenous rights, which saw 10 locals killed along with 24 policemen.
Indigenous activists launched protests that turned deadly because the government gave a green light to foreign corporations extracting natural resources from the Amazon basin region without consulting them.
In last week's general election, ex-military official Ollanta Humala and populist conservative Keiko Fujimori came out ahead for the June 5 presidential runoff.
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