Right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori has won Peru’s presidential run-off at the fourth attempt, by one of the narrowest margins in the country’s history. The country’s electoral authorities concluded their count of the June 7 vote on June 29, putting Fujimori on 50.1 per cent against the left-wing Roberto Sánchez’s 49.9 per cent.
Fewer than 50,000 votes separated the two. The result laid bare a polarisation that has run through every recent Peruvian election.
Sánchez had led as domestic ballots were tallied, but Fujimori moved ahead once votes from Peruvians abroad were counted. Those overseas ballots, cast mainly in Argentina, Spain and the United States, were processed by hand after authorities suspended an electronic scanning system.
Sánchez has refused to concede and alleged fraud, though he presented no evidence. He said he would file a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and a legal challenge to block the official result.
Peru’s National Jury of Elections is due to proclaim a winner by July 3. A monitoring mission from the Organization of American States reported no significant irregularities in the run-off.
The win ended a long pursuit of the presidency for Fujimori, who had lost run-offs in 2011, 2016 and 2021. She is the daughter of the late former president Alberto Fujimori, who governed from 1990 to 2000 and was later jailed for human rights abuses.
The 51-year-old campaigned on a hardline security platform, vowing to crack down on the extortion and violent crime that have surged across Peru. She also promised a market-friendly economy and closer ties with the United States.
Her Popular Force party also strengthened its grip on Congress, where it is set to hold close to a third of the seats. That would hand Fujimori a friendlier legislature than her recent predecessors enjoyed.
The result cemented a rightward shift across Latin America. Several leaders congratulated Fujimori, among them Argentina’s President Javier Milei, who said Peru had turned away from socialism and that freedom was advancing across the region.
Bolivia’s President Rodrigo Paz also offered his congratulations, as did Abelardo de la Espriella, who won Colombia’s presidency in a run-off on June 21.
Fujimori would become Peru’s ninth president in a decade, inheriting a country worn down by repeated impeachments and street protests.
