Sixteen years after his last government collapsed in economic failure and the threat of violent rebellion, Alan Garcia won back the presidency of Peru last night, defeating a former army commander who had promised to redistribute the country's wealth.

Although Señor Garcia had just completed one of the most remarkable political comebacks in Latin America's history, he celebrated with contrition last night in Lima, acknowledging that, in the minds of many Peruvians, he had won a bitterly-fought election as the lesser of two evils.

With 77 per cent of ballots counted last night, Señor Garcia had won 55 per cent of the vote, while Ollanta Humala, a 43-year-old former military commander who led a failed coup against former president Alberto Fujimori in 2000, had won 45 per cent.

Señor Humala, an inexperienced nationalist candidate with the outspoken support of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, had promised to return power and wealth to Peru's poor and indigenous communities and align the country along Latin America's new leftist axis of Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba.

Although Señor Humala's campaign brought him strong support in the south of the country — he defeated Senor Garcia in 14 of Peru's 24 electoral districts — it frightened many in the more populous and industrialised north.

Waving a white handkerchief before thousands of supporters, the symbol of his Apra party, Señor Garcia, 57, said he recognised that the people of Peru had voted for him "in spite of the mistakes and the errors" and promised an "austere and popular" government.

"A new path to victory and responsibility has been open to the Apristas as a result of the generosity of the people and the will of God," he said. "No one can reach power if you do not accept and open your heart before God and admit the errors that you are guilty of."

But Señor Garcia abandoned the tone of humility to address Señor Chávez, whose political and financial support for Señor Humala had enraged many within Peru's traditional political establishment.

During the election campaign, which at times spilled into violence between supporters of the two candidates, the Venezuelan President called Señor Garcia "a genuine thief, a demagogue, a liar," to which he responded by calling Señor Chávez "a midget dictator with a big wallet."

Last night, Señor Garcia, who was described as the Kennedy of Latin America after first becoming president aged just 35, continued the acrimony, describing his win as a victory over Señor Chávez's "black money".

"Here is a democracy that has said 'No'," he said, adding that Peru had "rejected the military and retrograde model that [Señor Chávez] wants to imprint on South America."

Nonetheless, commentators in Peru observed that the deep social rifts exposed by the election campaign, notably widespread anger among the country's poor who have not shared in strong recent economic growth, would compel Señor Garcia to make a broad government to represent their interests.

"Peru is being tremendously generous to Garcia, something that he doesn’t really deserve... But this is not a blank check, he has to work hard, to do something better this time," Augusto Alvarez, editor of the daily newspaper, Peru.21, told Reuters.

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