Ollanta Humala : Ask Biography

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Ollanta Moisés Humala Tasso (born June 26, 1962) is a Peruvian politician and the President of Peru. Humala, who previously served as an army officer, lost the presidential election in 2006 but won the 2011 presidential election in a run-off vote. He was elected as President of Peru in the second round, defeating Keiko Fujimori.

The son of Isaac Humala, a labour lawyer, Humala entered the Peruvian Army in 1982. In the military he achieved the rank of Lieutenant Colonel; in 1992 he fought in the internal conflict against the Shining Path and three years later he participated in the Cenepa War against Ecuador. In October 2000, Humala led an unsuccessful military revolt by 39 soldiers in the southern city of Tacna against President Alberto Fujimori; he was pardoned by the Peruvian Congress after the downfall of the Fujimori regime.

In 2005 he founded the Peruvian Nationalist Party and registered to run in the 2006 presidential election. The nomination was made under the Union for Peru ticket as the Nationalist party did not achieve its electoral inscription on time. He passed the first round of the elections, held on April 9, 2006, with 30.62% of the valid votes. A runoff was held on June 4 between Humala and Alan García of the Peruvian Aprista Party. Humala lost this round with 47.47% of the valid votes versus 52.62% for García. After his defeat, Humala remained as an important figure within Peruvian politics.

In 2011, Humala campaigned as a center-left leader with the desire to help to create a more equitable framework for distributing the wealth from the country's key natural resources, with the goal of maintaining foreign investment and economic growth in the country while working to improve the condition of an impoverished majority.