LUCIEN O. CHAUVIN

 LIMA, Peru -- Several candidates in Peru's April 2000 election, including Lima
 mayor Alberto Andrade, are accusing the Peruvian government of a smear
 campaign to ensure President Alberto Fujimori's election to a third term.

 ``Democracy in Peru is a facade,'' says Heriberto Benitez, legal counsel to
 Andrade. ``The only goal of this `democracy' is Fujimori's reelection.''

 Andrade, head of the Somos Peru party, and Luis Castañeda Lossio, the only
 candidate to formally announce his candidacy for the presidency, tick off lists of
 violent acts and harassment they say can be coming only from the government.
 Fujimori rejects the accusations and has refused to meet with Andrade, saying
 that neither he nor Andrade is a candidate yet.

 ``We are the victims of an orchestrated campaign to destroy Somos Peru,''
 Andrade says. ``. . . It began during last year's municipal elections and has
 gained steam since then. This campaign is organized by Vladimiro Montesinos
 with the full knowledge of President Fujimori.''

 Montesinos, the de facto head of Peru's National Intelligence Service, is
 continually accused by the opposition of operating a clandestine and violent
 organization ``with the goal of maintaining Fujimori in power,'' according to the
 Lima mayor.

 Romulo Muñoz Arce, a member of the National Election Board, called Andrade
 and Castañeda Lossio ``crybabies'' for complaining about troubles on the
 campaign trail. And when Castañeda Lossio, former head of Peru's social security
 institute, called a press conference to show a video of police harassment of his
 campaign, Police Chief Gen. Fernando Dianderas dismissed the charge as
 ``ridiculous.''

 HARASSMENT

 In a mid-September survey by the Apoyo polling firm, 53 percent of Peruvians
 polled agreed that opposition candidates are the victims of harassment.

 Benitez says the government is using the country's tabloids as its front line of
 attack against opposition candidates.

 Nearly a dozen tabloids appear on the newsstands each day with banner
 headlines attacking either Andrade or Castañeda Lossio. One tabloid, Repudio,
 was launched specifically to criticize Rep. Gustavo Mohme, owner of the
 newspaper La Republica.

 Benitez says the articles that appear in the tabloids are too similar to have been
 written independently. He accuses the intelligence service of writing the copy and
 paying for it to be published in the tabloids.

 ``Pick up copies of any of these tabloids and you can see that the text is the
 same. They use the same quotes from the same unidentified sources. This is not
 a coincidence,'' says Benitez, who has gained recognition in Peru for his work on
 controversial human rights cases.

 SUIT THROWN OUT

 The Sept. 16 issue of El Chino, one of the most vociferous critics of opposition
 leaders, carried a banner headline attacking Castañeda Lossio for his tenure at a
 fishermen's credit union. Its editorial, which was directed at Andrade, referred to
 the mayor only as ``the fat authoritarian.''

 Benitez filed a suit on behalf of Andrade against six of the larger tabloids. The suit
 was dismissed Sept. 15.

 Three of the papers filed individual counter suits, which have been accepted by a
 judge. The suits, which are similar in nature, not only demand that Benitez be
 removed as Andrade's lawyer but ask that the mayor not be allowed to choose a
 replacement in the event that Benitez is forced out.

 ``While I would like to laugh at this suit, it is very serious because of the
 precedent it sets,'' says Benitez. ``If the judge rules in their favor it would be a
 violation of one of the most basic legal principles, the right to representation. It is
 outrageous that a suit of this nature would even be admitted by a judge.''

 CRITICISM DISMISSED

 Samuel Wolfenson, the owner of El Chino, dismisses the criticisms, saying that
 Andrade and his lawyer are complaining because they know nothing about
 politics.

 ``Our newspaper does not like Andrade. We do not think that he is a good mayor
 and we do not think he has any of the qualities needed to govern this country.
 Lima is a mess and he spends his time campaigning around the country. We
 have the right to tell our readers this and to criticize him.

 ``There is freedom of the press here, and we are exercising our right,'' he says.

 Regardless of who is behind the campaign, the constant criticism of Andrade has
 affected his standing in the polls. He has gone from leading the pack in January
 to a mere 18 percent in the mid-September Apoyo poll. Andrade is now in third
 place, trailing behind Fujimori and Castañeda Lossio.

 Fujimori is the big surprise. More than 50 percent of Peruvians have a positive
 image of his government -- up from 18 percent last year -- and 34 percent would
 vote for him if the elections were held today.