Interview: Peruvians expect security, reforms from next president

No matter who wins the presidential election, Peruvians want the next president to focus on improving public security and taking more reforms, said a Peruvian official on Friday.

The new president has the obligation of bringing security back to Peru, Alfonso Miranda of the Peruvian National Society of Industries told Xinhua.

"Today, nobody knows when they will be caught in a shooting or be attacked," he said.

Miranda's remarks reflect what is likely to be a major issue to be tackled by either Keiko Fujimori or Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, the two presidential candidates who will compete in a runoff vote on Sunday.

In general elections held on April 10, Fujimori, the daughter of the disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori, garnered nearly 40 percent of the vote. Former Wall Street banker Kuczynski came in the second, grabbing 21 percent.

According to Peru's electoral law, a candidate must get more than 50 percent of the vote in the first round to get elected.

Security has become a huge concern in Peru. An official study shows 80 percent of Peruvians have seen a rise in crime in the last year, and 59 percent now fear for their own safety.

Besides safety, Miranda wants the next president to keep working to integrate Peru into the global commercial order.

"The vast majority of Peruvians want a system which allows for more economic and industrial development in a fair way within the framework of globalization," he said.

Although Peru attracted around 8.75 billion U.S. dollars in foreign investment in 2015, such deals must attend to the environment, preserve the habitat of communities and involve the local people, he said.

"If communities properly participate in the development, they will feel valued and welcome foreign investments," he said.

Furthermore, Miranda said Peruvians expect their living standards to be gradually elevated to the level of OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries.

"In the first 100 days of the next government, we need to see a deep reform of public governance in order to make it more efficient and bring it in line with OECD levels," he said.

Moreover, Miranda believes that the two presidential candidates should be highly aware of Peru's malnutrition problem, now affecting 14 percent of the population, especially among children.

The winner of Sunday's presidential runoff will take office on July 28 and serve a tenure of five years. Endi