LIMA, Aug 15: Congress on Thursday voted not to form a Commission to investigate allegations that President Alberto Fujimori was born outside Peru, which would make him ineligible to hold office.

With pro-Fujimori legislators abstaining from voting, Opposition legislators buried the motion presented by Congresswoman Lourdes Flores Nano.

``Some members of the Opposition thought there was nothing to investigate, others thought a Commission might end up boomeranging on them,'' Flores Nano said.

The vote was 15 for an investigation and 18 against with 61 abstentions.Last month, a Peruvian magazine published documents renewing allegations that Fujimori was born in Japan and that his birth documents were altered to show he was born in Peru. The published documents indicated Fujimori's mother arrived in Peru with two children. Fujimori is her second child.

But Fujimori's 84-year-old mother, his former wife Susan Higuchiand relatives in Japan all said the President was born in Peru.

Fujimori based his case on his birth certificate, which showed he was born in Lima on July 28, 1938.

The allegations came as Fujimori was wrapped in a deep political crisis with his popularity at the lowest level of his seven years in power.

But the allegations seem to have backfired on the Opposition. Polls show Fujimori's popularity growing by more than 10 points in August, and pollsters partly attribute this rise to the allegations.

``The questioning of Fujimori's nationality appears to have generated a current of solidarity with him in public opinion,'' said Alfredo Torres, director of the polling company Apoyo.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.