New Peru leader to face task of rebuilding democracy; restoring confidence.(The Dallas Morning News)

LIMA, Peru _ For Peruvians, it was the year of living dangerously, an era of upheaval marked by the flight of an autocratic president, espionage and bribery scandals, a military uprising and three presidential elections that brought the nation to the brink of chaos.

On Sunday, that era could come to a close. Or it could begin anew as voters go to the polls for yet a fourth time to choose between two presidential candidates whose leadership credentials are so much in doubt that, only two weeks ago, more than a third of the electorate planned to cast blank ballots rather than allow either to become the next president.

Whoever wins, the new leader will face the difficult task of rebuilding the nation's tattered democracy and restoring the confidence of Washington, which views Peru as a fragile yet crucial keystone in its plan to contain the spreading drug trade and guerrilla warfare in neighboring Colombia. Former secretary of State Madeleine Albright is in Peru to observe the elections.

Public opinion polls indicate that candidate Alejandro Toledo, a Stanford-trained economist, holds only a slight lead after two years of non-stop campaigning for the presidency. Toledo, 55, led the opposition movement that forced then-president Alberto Fujimori to flee the country in disgrace last November.

But the candidate has been caught in a number of mistruths and policy flip-flops during recent campaigning. He also has had to explain reports that he used cocaine as recently as 1998.

His challenger, former president Alan Garcia, returned to Peru only six months ago, having spent the past decade in self-exile after a five-year presidency that has been widely criticized as an unmitigated disaster.

Inflation rates soared to more than 1,000 percent annually, guerrilla violence brought investment in Peru to a standstill, corruption scandals abounded and human-rights violations skyrocketed, Garcia's critics say. Four months ago, three out of four Peruvians polled said they would "never" vote for him again. Now, however, he is almost neck-and-neck with Toledo.