Keiko Fujimori has been declared the winner of Peru’s presidential election just weeks after voting
Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori has been declared the winner of Peru’s presidential election, almost a month after the vote.
The 51-year-old student won 50.135% of voter support in the elections held on June 7, compared to 49.865% for the leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez – an average of less than 50,000 votes, figures confirmed by the electoral court in Peru.
This is the fourth time the daughter of disgraced President Alberto Fujimori is seeking the position of president of a South American country, promising this time that she will oversee the campaign against organized crime.
His election, along with the election of Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, marks a shift to the right in Latin American politics.
Fujimori said he would assume the presidency with “responsibility, humility and a deep sense of duty”.
“Each day of this transition process is an opportunity to listen, participate in discussions and come prepared for the start of the new government,” he added, in what appears to be a nod to his small career.
Sánchez, 57, accused the election of being “highly compromised” and threatened legal action, saying Fujimori’s strong support among Peruvian voters abroad was a sign of things going wrong.
After the results were announced on Friday, his party filed a petition challenging the election court’s announcement, demanding that the vote be annulled.
While Sánchez, a former foreign trade minister, stood on the side of broad economic reform, Fujimori benefited from concerns about crime and political instability dominating the race.
Throughout the campaign, he relied on his father’s controversial legacy, promising a military crackdown on organized crime, particularly extortion that has increased in recent years.
Alberto Fujimori was eventually arrested on charges of crimes against humanity for extrajudicial killings and forced sterilizations during his powerful leadership.
Keiko also promised to attract private investors to stimulate economic growth and immediately deport any undocumented immigrants found to be committing crimes in Peru.
He ran unsuccessfully in 2011, 2016 and 2021, losing the same strict limits, during a period of political instability in Peru. He will be the Andean country’s ninth president in ten years.
His swearing-in ceremony is expected to take place on July 28.
When he takes office, he will be the latest addition to the many ideologically aligned, right-wing leaders in Latin America who have taken power in recent years, often toppling left-wing governments.
Colombia’s president-elect, de la Espriella, will take office a few days later, having won a similarly ruthless election on a promise to fight organized crime.
He and others like Nayib Bukele from El Salvador and Daniel Noboa from Ecuador want to align themselves with US President Donald Trump, who has become more interested in Latin American political issues in his second term.
This trend means that Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – who is facing the son of convicted former president Jair Bolsonaro in elections later this year – is now the top leftist in the region.
