Keiko Fujimori collected 9,223,000 votes in Peru’s June 7 runoff. That was 50.135% of the ballots, against 49.865% for her opponent, the nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez. Arab News put the gap at fewer than 50,000 votes.
Peru’s top election authority certified the result, and Associated Press reported the outcome on July 3. Fujimori, 51, takes office on July 28 for a five-year term. She will be the ninth president the country has had in ten years, by the AP count, and Arab News counts eight in the past decade.
An iron-fist pitch on crime
Crime ran through the whole campaign. Voters spoke most about extortion by violent gangs, and Fujimori built her platform around it. She promised to “combat crime with an iron fist.”
The plan includes four new prisons and one more facility modeled on El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center. She also wants to militarize the borders and deport undocumented migrants.
After certification she posted a message on social media. “Each day of this process of transition is an opportunity to listen, discuss and arrive prepared for the start of a new government,” she wrote. Earlier, on X, she had said each step brought Peru closer to “the path of order and hope for all Peruvians.”
Fourth try, and a famous surname
This was her fourth run for the presidency. Arab News described three earlier campaigns that ended in defeat, shaped by the weight of her surname.
Her father, Alberto Fujimori, ruled Peru from 1990 to 2000. He defeated the Shining Path rebels and brought hyperinflation under control, but he used authoritarian methods. A conviction for human rights abuses came in 2009, and he later went to prison on corruption charges as well. For many Peruvians the name still brings back painful memories. For others it means loyalty and a ready-made political network.
Fujimori spent the campaign softening her image. Arab News said she was long seen as confrontational, yet she presented herself as polished and open to talks. “We have the responsibility of listening to both sides,” she said. “The doors for dialogue are open.”
Jenny Martinez, a Lima vendor, told the outlet she was hopeful about the new president. Critics point instead at Fuerza Popular, Fujimori’s party, which they say has fed Peru’s instability through its large bloc in Congress and its habit of cutting deals.
The loser’s complaint
Sánchez had alleged administrative irregularities in the vote cast overseas. He first suggested he would not recognize a government led by Fujimori. When Arab News published on June 30, he had not responded to the final tally.
A region moving right
Her win follows conservative victories elsewhere in Latin America. AP lists Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia and José Antonio Kast in Chile. Arab News adds Bolivia and Ecuador to the group of recently elected leaders who rode voter anxiety over crime and political dysfunction.
For the Fujimori family, it is a return to the presidential palace more than two decades after her father’s government fell.
Sources
- Conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori wins Peru's presidential election in a runoff
- Peruvian political heir Fujimori wins presidency
