By Marco Aquino and Lucinda Elliott
LIMA, June 24 (Reuters) - Keiko Fujimori’s victory in her fourth bid for Peru's presidency returns a polarizing political dynasty to power, reviving deep divisions that have long split the South American country.
Conservative Fujimori, 51, narrowly defeated leftist congressman Roberto Sanchez in one of the closest elections in Peru’s modern history, winning a razor-thin June runoff that took weeks to determine.
The contest unfolded amid queried ballots and a prolonged
vote count, though international observers said both rounds proceeded normally. With 98.86% of the vote counted, Fujimori garnered an unbeatable lead late on Tuesday.
Sanchez has claimed fraud and said he will refuse to recognize Fujimori's victory. Peru's ONPE electoral authority will officially announce the winner in mid-July.
She is set to assume office on July 28 for a five-year term as Peru's copper-exporting economy grapples with rising crime, corruption and political instability — no Peruvian president has completed a full term in the past decade.
Fujimori will become Peru’s first elected female president. Her win follows three previous failed bids -- in 2011, 2016 and 2021 -- each decided by narrow margins and shaped in part by a persistent “anti-Fujimori” vote that has defined the country’s elections for years.
Analysts say her resilience underscores the enduring strength of “Fujimorismo,” the movement built around her late father, former president Alberto Fujimori. A divisive figure who governed from 1990 to 2000, he was credited for bringing stability to the country but condemned by critics as authoritarian. He spent 16 years in prison for human rights abuses committed when he was in power and died in 2024 after his release.
FAMILY LEGACY
Keiko Fujimori entered public life early, serving as de facto first lady at 19 after her parents separated. She later built her own political base, winning a congressional seat in 2006 with the highest vote total ever recorded for a Peruvian lawmaker.
After once distancing herself from her father’s legacy, she has increasingly embraced it, casting herself in this campaign as a strong hand capable of restoring order as Peru confronts surging crime and extortion rates.
Among her proposals was reviving “faceless judges,” a controversial system used in the 1990s to prosecute terrorism and drug cases that was later condemned by rights groups for undermining due process. She has also emphasized economic stability, respect for private property and closer ties with Washington, echoing other conservative governments in the region.
Her political career has been shadowed by legal troubles. Fujimori spent nearly a year and a half in pretrial detention between 2018 and 2020 over illegal campaign financing allegations, which were dropped last year.
Her running mate, Luis Galarreta, has framed that period as transformative, describing a “new Keiko” who is more reflective and pragmatic.
“She came out of prison without bitterness,” Galarreta said in an interview with Reuters, adding that she now places greater emphasis on building a structured political organization.
Still, Fujimori remains a divisive figure. Opponents argue her right-wing Popular Force party -- long a dominant force in Congress that is expected to hold the largest minority bloc with 41 lower house and 22 senate seats in the 2026 to 2031 legislature -- has contributed to Peru's broader cycle of instability.
Protests against her candidacy drew hundreds of leftist supporters and civil society groups in Lima ahead of the runoff. Only 11% of the electorate voted for her in the election’s first round.
Fujimori will also face a fragmented party system that has been unable to form lasting governing coalitions. Corruption scandals have touched almost every Peruvian leader over the past three decades. The country has cycled through eight presidents and 21 prime ministers over the last 10 years and for most practical purposes, has lacked a national government.
Fujimori takes over from Jose Balcazar, who assumed office earlier this year after Congress removed his predecessor over a scandal involving undisclosed meetings with a Chinese businessman.
Peru’s legislature has returned to a bicameral system, with no party holding a majority in either chamber — a dynamic that has complicated governance and contributed to recurring impeachments. Right-wing allies could give Fujimori a narrow edge, analysts say. Her Popular Force party will have 22 of the 60 Senate seats, enough to block impeachment.
Eileen Gavin of Verisk Maplecroft said that while opposition to Fujimori softened somewhat during the campaign, it remains a powerful force.
“It is not clear that her rivals on the far right and center-right (in Congress) will be willing to ally themselves with the Popular Force in any formal way,” Gavin said, warning that divisions could complicate governance.
"Hopes that Peru will finally exit its vicious cycle of revolving-door presidents may be sadly misplaced,” added Gavin.
(Reporting by Marco Aquino and Lucinda Elliott; Additional reporting by Stephanie Eschenbacher; Editing by Alexander Villegas and Chizu Nomiyama )
