In Peru’s presidential race, a pro-Trump frontrunner sinks in final stretch 

Lima, Peru – A record 35 candidates are vying for the presidency in Peru on Sunday. Only one, however, pitched himself as the most pro-Donald Trump option.

Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a chubby-cheeked business magnate and former mayor who goes by the nickname "Porky", had been the race’s frontrunner since August.

He ran a far-right campaign, expressing support for the United States bombing of alleged drug-smuggling boats and proposing that the US military intervene in Peru to capture gang leaders.

Lopez Aliaga even bragged about his ties to the Trump administration. He claimed that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio invited him to Trump's inauguration last year, and in October, he organised a memorial for Charlie Kirk, despite only learning about the Trump-aligned activist after his assassination.

But ahead of the vote on Sunday, Lopez Aliaga has little to show for those efforts.

He has fallen to just 7 percent of voter intent, with his right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori overtaking him by eight points, according to an Ipsos poll released a week before the vote.

Fujimori's platform bears no mention of Trump's ambitions in Latin America. It says that, if Fujimori is elected, her foreign policy would be “based exclusively on national interest".

With more than 20 percent of voters still undecided, the race is still wildly unpredictable. But most political analysts no longer expect Lopez Aliaga to move on to a likely June run-off between the top two presidential candidates.

That has raised questions about limitations, and potential risks, of embracing the Trump brand in Peru and in Latin America overall.

“Trump's far-right admirers are no doubt questioning the mileage in his coattails,” said Benjamin Gedan, the director of the Latin America programme at the Stimson Center, a foreign affairs think tank.

Gedan believes that Trump’s aggressive foreign policy has diminished his appeal in the region.

He pointed to Trump's embrace of the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine — a policy that claims all of the Western Hemisphere as the US's sphere of influence — as one of his more controversial stances.

“Trump is not popular in Latin America, and the Monroe Doctrine and war in Iran will not improve his image,” Gedan said.