In recent years, the situation in South America has turned into a duel between two political currents, with Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina supporting a moderate left approach, while the radical left is presented by Venezuela and Bolivia. 

On Sunday, the moderate left got another member, with Alan Garcia winning the election for president with 53.1 percent of the vote against 46.9 percent for his opponent Ollanta Humala. Garcia will take over from moderate outgoing president Alejandro Toledo.  

During the campaign, far-left Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had been endorsing runner-up Humala, hoping to gain an ally. But, "Garcia's victory eliminates the key in the Andean chain that Hugo Chavez is forging," Peruvian political analyst Mirko Lauer said, according to the Associated Press.

Despite Garcia's victory, Humala's party has the majority of seats in Congress and won 14 out of the 24 Peruvian states, which may make things difficult for the new leader of South America's third largest country. Moderate leftist Garcia has ruled the country once before, between 1985 and 1990.

Left-leaning Die Tageszeitung notes that "satisfaction is reigning in Washington" since Alan Garcia is again Peru's President. The editorial clearly recognizes the outcome of this election as a strong counter to current political trends, but "Peruvian institutions are weak and discredited". No one knows just how far to the left Garcia will have to move in order to satisfy his voters. This will also depend on the political skills of Ollanta Humalas, who will need to prove that he is, in fact, a political force to be reckoned with.

Center-right daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung summarizes the decision as "an election that wasn't an election," since citizens had to decide between former officer Humala, who presents an insecure future and former president Garcia, who had almost lead the country into collapse 16 years ago. And "now they gave the former president the chance to get it right the second time." Parting president Alejandro Toledo leaves his successor with a growing economy, low inflation and low national debt. "But numbers aren't edible," the editorial states. So Garcia's agenda needs to include strengthening economic and foreign policy as well as "placing the responsibility for the country on those who so far have not taken part in its positive development."

Center-left daily Süddeutsche Zeitung is surprised at Garcia's repeat victory. The new President stands for a minority: born into a white elitist society, he received a university education, while former military officer Ollanta Humala's home lies in the somewhat underdeveloped Andes. Both candidates appealed to different parts of the population. For the winner, the situation is difficult, the paper points out. Peru's population is divided due to the century-old system of rich great land owners on the one hand and many impoverished peasants on the other. So "the new President should take the requirements of the exploited population seriously. He will not get a third chance." And, Humala and Chavez will be waiting for mistakes.

-- Heike Westendorf, 2:20 p.m. CET

Czech Election Ends in Stalemate

Sunday's election in the Czech Republic produced the worst of all possible results: nobody won. Mirek Topolanek, leader of the conservative Civic Democrats (ODS), was expected to sweep Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek from power, but although the party won the largest share of the vote it may not be enough to form a government. President Vaclav Klaus has nevertheless asked Topolanek to try.

The problem is that even if the ODS forms a coalition with the Greens and Christian Democrats, they will still only hold 100 seats in the 200-strong parliament. This is exactly the same number as the ruling Social Democrats and Communists won. It is likely the ODS will have to rely on social democratic votes to form a government and there is now even talk of a grand coalition pairing the country's two largest parties.

Among the displeased are financiers and traders, who had hoped Topolanek would drive through bold economic and structural reforms, including the creation of a 15 per cent flat-tax. This is now extremely unlikely to happen and a further round of elections may even be on the cards.

Financial daily Handelsblatt certainly has such considerations in mind. "The victory of the opposition parties at the parliamentary elections in Czech Republic shows that the electorate want a change of power … But the people have only achieved half a victory." The paper has doubts about the efficacy of a grand coalition of civic and social democrats. "The policy profile of a grand coalition would be completely unclear. While the civic democrats stand for market reforms, the social democrats want to retain state interventionism and excessive social spending. Also, the planned low taxation rates would have no chance.... With regard to reforms, the Czechs face a period of deadlock."

The conservative Frankfurt Allgeimeine also fears the worst. First the German election failed to produce a decisive outcome, then the Italians followed suit. Now it's the Czechs' turn. "Democracies like Germany and Italy can cope with such situations rather better. And it's a missed chance for the country. "A stable government -- which could have governed for four years and would have been in the position to reform the financial, health and social insurance systems -- cannot now be expected, especially if the Social Democratic Party, or at least its delegates, cannot agree to give the government its vote of confidence."

The Süddeutsche Zeitung also laments the Czech electorate's failure to deliver a proper government mandate. "The people have spoken, only unfortunately, they haven't said what they want," the paper's editorial quips. "Two years after joining the European Union and in the middle of a huge economic boom, the parliamentary election in the Czech Republic has ended in stalemate, which will do the country no good at all." The paper regrets that -- just like former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder and recently unseated Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi -- Paroubek's refusal to immediately concede defeat has only made the situation worse. "The Czech Republic, like other central and eastern European countries, must not only recover from the dead hand of communism, but also contend with demographic problems and globalization."

The left leaning Berliner Zeitung suggests the common sense route out of the present impasse could have been a grand coalition of the ODS and Social Democrats. But this also now seems the most difficult way forward. "They would have had a comfortable majority, holding 155 of the 200 seats. The manifestos of the ODS and Social Democrats are not that different, as the propagandists of both parties during the election would have liked people to believe." But, the personalities of the two party leaders and the ODS's flat-tax policies are likely to prove terminally divisive, the paper suggests. "Therefore in Prague nobody is ruling out the possibility that soon the people will be called to the ballot box again."