If foreign investors are shocked by the election result in Peru they might want to start questioning the quality of their political advice.

For weeks investment banks and their Peruvian contacts have been blithely assuring clients that Lourdes Flores, the pro-market favourite, was a sure winner in the second round of the contest. But for any observer who occasionally ventured outside the better-off Lima suburbs like San Isidro and Miraflores, it has been obvious for a long time that the 50 per cent of Peruvians earning less than $2 a day were unlikely to vote for a candidate so clearly associated with the interests of Lima-based elites.