Leftist presidential candidate Ollanta Humala promised on Friday to respect the independence of Peru's legislature and judiciary, and not nationalize Peru's private pension system in bid to court moderate voters.

In his revised election platform, Humala said a proposed windfall profits tax on companies in Peru's vast mining sector would generate $1 billion to $2.5 billion a year in revenue to help fight poverty that afflicts a third of the population.

The move seeks to calm Peruvian voters and investors worried that he will intervene in the fast-growing economy and comes after he was overtaken by right-wing rival Keiko Fujimori in opinion polls three weeks from the June 5 run-off.

Humala, who favors a greater role for the state in the economy, promised not to replace Peru's private pension system with a government-run system.

Critics have said that reforms he proposed in an earlier platform would have undermined judicial independence, while memories of Congress being shut in 1992 by jailed former President Alberto Fujimori still unnerve voters concerned about the strength of Peru's democracy.

Humala's revised plan reiterated earlier pledges to respect the central bank's independence, run a balanced budget and honor Peru's international accords.

A former army officer who lost the 2006 election, Humala won the first round presidential vote on April 10 but is now narrowly trailing Fujimori, a lawmaker and daughter of the former president, who is favored by the business community.

Her father's government collapsed in 2000 in a cloud of corruption and human rights scandals stemming from his crackdown on insurgents. Like Humala, she has also said Peru should raise taxes on miners to fund social programs.

Reuters