Peru's national government opposes a vote

The vote was preceded by a series of strong condemnations by Peru's President Alan Garcia and the National Electoral Commission. President Garcia also attacked local Church leaders for their support of their parishioners and the vote, accusing the Vatican of meddling in Peru's internal affairs.

Just days before the election the National Election Board ordered the confiscation of all election materials and some were confiscated from a bus by the National Police. The local prosecutor in Piura ordered that two boxes of ballots be returned to the election organizers one day before the vote.

Results of the vote

In Ayabaca, the largest town, thousands of campesinos arrived from the countryside the night before and slept in frigid temperatures in the plaza and just outside the soccer stadium, where voting was to begin the next morning. An EDLC attorney attended the vote, and his account of the voting process is described in an Observer's Account of a Vote.

In Ayabaca, the vote was 93% opposed to the project with a 50% turnout. In Pacaipamba, the vote was 97% opposed with a 70% turnout; and in Carmen de la Frontera, the vote was 92.5% opposed with a 59% turnout. The majority of the remaining ballots were labeled as spoiled.

Within two weeks of the vote, the Garcia administration proposed a measure to the Peruvian Congress that would accelerate the government approval process for mining ventures. Rio Blanco was one of the initial twenty projects identified in the plan, and other mining companies could be included by simple decree in the future. The president cited technicalities in the Rio Blanco vote as the basis for his position that it was invalid.

Candarave

Since the vote on the Rio Blanco project, at least one other local vote has been held in Peru. In early 2008, the voters of the province of Candarave in southern Peru were asked whether they agreed with the initiation of new mining activities, and whether they agreed with the use of water resources for mining. Many in the area reportedly believed that crop production had dropped dramatically due to falling water levels attributable to mining operations. Over 90% of the 7,500 people who voted rejected new mining activities.

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Peru Local Vote

Farmers and townspeople in Tambogrande gather in the town's main square to watch a documentary about their own successful efforts to hold a vote and stop mining development.

Mayor Rengifo then discovered an obscure provision in Peru’s municipal law that allowed a non-binding ‘consulta vecinal,’ or local vote…