Left-wing former army commander Ollanta Humala won Peru's presidential election and vowed the poor will share in the country's new wealth but financial markets plummeted on fears that he will ruin the economy. Humala claimed victory on Sunday night as results from 88.4 percent of ballot boxes gave him a narrow but growing lead of over 2.5 percentage points over right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori.
Exit polls and quick counts from Sunday's election put Humala clearly ahead and his lead in the official returns was expected to grow as more votes came in from poor, rural areas. "We want to install a government of national unity," Humala, 48, told thousands of cheering supporters after a bruising race that brought back bitter memories of Peru's chaotic past.
Investors worry that Humala will increase state control over the economy and throw away fiscal discipline, and there was heavy selling of Peruvian assets on Monday morning. Peru's stock market sank nearly 9 percent at the open, prompting authorities to halt trading, while the sol currency fell 1.2 percent.
Shares in mining companies fell as much as 15 percent, as investors fretted over the prospect of a windfall tax Humala wants to impose on Peru's vast mining sector. Peru, one of the world's fastest-growing economies over the past decade, is a major metals exporter but a third of its people are stuck in poverty and Humala campaigned on promises to spread around more of the country's new wealth.
"We want economic growth with social inclusion," he said at a rally in downtown Lima that stretched into the early hours of Monday. "We can build a more just Peru for everybody." Thousands of followers danced in jubilation, chanting "Humala Presidente! and "Fujimori never again." After narrowly losing the 2006 presidential election, Humala toned down his more radical anti-capitalist policies to try to win over centrist voters.
He vows to run a balanced budget, bring experienced technocrats into his government and respect foreign investors who plan to spend $40 billion on mining and oil projects in Peru in the next decade. He also promises to give the a poor a greater share of Peru's natural resource wealth and end social conflicts. Investors are keenly awaiting details of Humala's picks for economy minister and central bank chief, but while he is expected to name an independent technocrat to run the economy in a bid to ease market fears, he has not yet given tips on who it will be.