Two Elections and a Protest

Polar opposite election results this weekend. From Peru:

LIMA, Peru — Ollanta Humala, a nationalist former military officer who vows to expand antipoverty programs, seemed headed to a narrow victory in the presidential election against his rival, Keiko Fujimori, according to incomplete official returns.

Mr. Humala’s victory would be a rebuke of the economic model that has driven robust growth in Peru, even as millions of citizens who are mired in poverty have felt left out.

Mr. Humala, 48, toned down his once-radical views and retooled his image into that of an admirer of the former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a moderate leftist.

Of course, having the last name Fujimori was not a good way to start off in the election. Keiko Fujimori is the daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for human rights abuses. Either way, this election was about the disaffected poor. Despite Peru’s recent economic growth, there is general discontent that policies have not focused on reducing poverty and lifting many out of dire economic circumstances. Mr. Humala campaigned in part, on raising taxes on mining companies and asserting a bigger government role in some sectors of the economy.

And this from Portugal. The emphasis is mine:

Portugal's Social Democrats have unseated the governing Socialists with a resounding parliamentary election victory, giving the next government a strong mandate to enact a tough austerity program in return for a €78 billion ($A106 billion) international bailout.

Pedro Passos Coelho, leader of the Social Democrats, is expected to be the next prime minister, at the helm of a centre-right coalition government with the conservative Popular Party.

With about 80 per cent of votes counted, the Social Democrats had won 39 per cent of votes compared with 28 per cent for the Socialists led by Prime Minister Jose Socrates. The Popular Party had 12 per cent.

Blackmail.

And all this in light of the protests in the streets of Greece. More blackmail. Again, my emphasis.

ATHENS (Dow Jones)--Tens of thousands of Greeks demonstrated outside parliament Sunday in a massive protest that comes just days before the government is due to introduce new austerity measures that Greece has promised its international creditors.

The protesters held banners demanding popular resistance to the new measures and calling on the Greek government to reject a 110-billion-euro ($159 billion) loan memorandum it signed last year to rescue the country from default.

Taking place in a peaceful, almost carnival-like atmosphere, the demonstrators also directed their message at Greece's political leaders, gesticulating at the parliament building and shouting: "Thieves, Thieves, Thieves" in unison.

The demonstration is the largest protest in 12 days since a new, grassroots movement of self-proclaimed "indignant" citizens began staging daily protests in the central square of Athens. Greek media estimates of the crowd size ranged from 40,000 to more than 100,000.

The movement, organized over the Facebook social-networking site, is modeled on a similar grassroots protest in Spain known as Los Indignados, and brings together a wide segment of society, ranging from youth to retirees.

Forget two Americas. It's two (or three) different worlds.