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SV EXTERIOR APRA Party Presidential candidate Armando Villaneuva Del Campo entering Lima building for news conference (2 shots)
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SV TILT DOWN Electoral Registration Office
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GV Another Presidential candidate Belounde Terry at election rally
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GV Crowds waving flags and cheering
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GV Mr. Belounde Terry on rostrum waving to crowd with balloons and ticker tape (2 shots)
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SV Mr. Belounde preparing to speak
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GV Mr. Belounde speaking with Popular Action Party sign behind, and crowd listening (3 shots)
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Peru is in the grips of election fewer as politicians and voters prepare for a return to an elected government next May for the first time since 1968, when the military seized power. At least fifteen parties and coalitions have named candidates for the congressional and presidential elections which are scheduled to take place on May the 18th.

SYNOPSIS: One of the main presidential candidates is Armando Villaneuva Del Campo of the left of centre American Revolutionary Popular Alliance (APRA). He claimed on Tuesday (March 4) that an electoral fraud was being prepared in an attempt to prevent his party from coming to power.

Former President Fernando Belounde Terry is another prominent candidate, leading the middle of the road moderate Popular Action (Accion Popular) party. But both Apra and the Popular Action party have been badly shaken by a wave of well publicised infighting which has damaged their credibility in the eyes of the public.

President Francisco Morales Bermudez who bows out on July 28th, has promised that the elections and transfer to civilian rule for the first time in twelve years will take place as scheduled, but the process seems unlikely to be peaceful. The last day of registration (29 February) was marked by a short violent street battle between rival leftwing groups.