BY LUCIEN CHAUVIN
 Special to The Herald

 LIMA, Peru -- A leading Peruvian newspaper Tuesday accused President Alberto
 Fujimori's Peru 2000 political party of falsifying the 1.2 million signatures
 presented to register the party in late December.

 In an extensive four-page investigative report, El Comercio said the party
 employed 400 people who worked throughout November copying names and
 signatures from the official 1998 municipal election rolls onto registration lists.

 The president's allies in Congress rejected the accusation, saying the opposition
 is resorting to last-ditch efforts because it knows it will lose the April 9 election.

 ``This accusation, like others before it, has no substance. We do not need to
 falsify signatures. El Comercio is doing this because it wants to be on the good
 side of all the opposition candidates,'' said Rep. Marta Chavez, a former speaker
 of the Peruvian Congress and one of Fujimori's staunchest allies.

 Supported with the evidence presented by El Comercio and election-monitoring
 groups, however, Jorge Santistevan, Peru's Human Rights Ombudsman, lodged a
 formal complaint with the National Electoral Process office, which promised a
 thorough investigation.

 Opposition candidates and election observers are skeptical about the outcome of
 any investigation.
 CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE

 Presidential candidate Luis Castaneda Lossio, third in the polls, cited the
 allegedly forged signatures as an example of how Fujimori and his allies ``trample
 the constitution and remain on the margins of the law.''

 Most opposition candidates maintain that the president's candidacy is
 unconstitutional.

 Fujimori was first elected in 1990. During his first term he dissolved Congress and
 convoked a Constitutional Congress to write a new constitution, which permitted
 reelection. It was approved in a 1993 referendum.

 Fujimori won reelection in 1995 with 64 percent of the votes. Fresh off that victory,
 his allies in Congress interpreted the new constitution to mean that he had been
 elected only once under it and, therefore, could run again in the 2000 election.

 The National Election Board dismissed more than a dozen challenges to the
 president's candidacy, upholding Congress' interpretation of the constitution.

 Fujimori is also accused of using government funds to boost his campaign. The
 government spent an estimated $60 million in 1999 on advertising to promote its
 programs and policies. A major ad campaign, promoting ``Peru: A country with a
 future,'' has been widely attacked as an appendage of the president's re-election
 bid. The campaign slogan is the same color and carries the same design as Peru
 2000's official campaign literature and signs.
 TV A TOOL

 Castaneda Lossio and other opposition politicians complain the state television
 station is nothing more than a tool for the president's campaign.

 ``Channel 7 [the state channel] not only uses its news programs, but even its
 comedy shows to attack the opposition,'' Castaneda Lossio says. ``It is a clear
 example of how state funds are being used'' to support the president.

 Barry Levitt, a senior political analyst with the Carter Center-National Democratic
 Institute mission, says that while the signature falsification charges are plausible
 it is hard to measure the impact they will have on the campaign.

 Peru 2000's registration was formally accepted by the National Election Board in
 late December and, according to Levitt, the legal ramifications of the charges are
 hard to decipher.

 ``I think the major impact will be political and determined by the reaction of the
 general public,'' Levitt said.
 FUJIMORI LEAD

 Despite the questionable legality of Fujimori's third try for the presidency and
 accusations that he is using government funds to fund his campaign, he still
 commands a solid lead in the polls.

 According to Datum International, a top local polling firm, Fujimori has the support
 of 37 percent of the voters. The remaining 63 percent is divided among eight
 challengers.

 The Datum survey shows a 2 percent drop in support for Fujimori from January
 polls, and voters who once backed the president could be growing tired of
 perceived government maneuvers to stay in power.

 To remain in power, Fujimori needs to receive 50 percent of the votes April 9. If he
 fails to meet that target, he would be forced to a run-off election in June with the
 second place finisher.
 

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald