PERU: Peru Poll Says 2 Women Front-Runners in Race for Lima Mayor - Post Won Only by Men Since 1535

A poll in Peru says two women are the front-runners in the Oct. 3 election for Lima's mayor, a post to which only men have been elected since the city was founded in 1535.

Susana Villaran, candidate of the leftist Social Force party, leads with 42 per cent support. Lourdes Flores of the National Unity movement is second at 28 per cent, the Ipsos-Apoyo poll says.

The poll, published Sunday by the newspaper El Comercio, says the other seven candidates — all men — are far behind. The survey of 593 people has an error margin of plus or minus four percentage points.

Lima has had more than 300 mayors. All have been men, except for a woman who was hand-picked by a military dictatorship and served as mayor for a single year in the 1960s.