LIMA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Former Peruvian President Alan Garcia Perez made a comeback to be reelected head of state in a vote on Sunday, 21 years after his previous election to power, according to results of ballot counting announced by the National Electoral Procedure Office (ONPE) on Monday.

    Garcia, a social democrat from the Peru Aprist Party, won 54.69 percent of the vote, defeating his rival Ollanta Humala, who garnered 45.30 percent in the runoff presidential election after 91 percent of the vote was counted.

    Born on May 23, 1949, into a middle-class family in Lima, Alan Garcia Perez later became a lawyer and political scientist. He was educated in the Law department of Catholic University in Lima and the National University of San Marcos, the largest in the country. He became a lawyer in 1972, then continued to study in Spain, France, Britain and the Netherlands, and gained a doctor's degree in Law and Sociology.

    He joined the Aprist Party after returning home in 1976 and served as general secretary of the party in 1982, and president of the party from 1985 to 1988. In June 1985, Garcia was elected president of Peru.

    Garcia left office in disgrace in 1990 with Peru nearly bankrupt and battered by the devastating Shining Path insurgency. He fled into exile two years later when then-president Alberto Fujimori tried to arrest him and charged him with corruption.

    Garcia returned in 2001 after the Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations on corruption charges against him had expired. He then made a spectacular run for the presidency in Peru's previous election, winning a spot in the runoff and narrowly losing to current President Alejandro Toledo, who is barred legally from seeking a consecutive term.

    During the election campaign this time, Garcia said that he had learned from the mistakes of his 1985-1990 term and would better manage Peru's economy.

    Formerly known as the "Kennedy of South America", Garcia is an attractive figure who is renowned for his persuasive speeches. He enjoys more popularity in Peru's upper and middle classes than his contestant Humala. Enditem