She is closer than ever to becoming president of Peru. The conservative candidate has achieved an advantage that now seems impossible to overcome and is heading towards victory in an election marked by maximum equality, allegations of fraud and the threat of a new political crisis in the Andean country.
With 99.79% of the minutes scrutinized, The leader of Fuerza Popular adds 50.11% of the valid votes compared to the 49.88% obtained by the leftist Roberto Sánchez. The difference between the two amounts to 42,097 votes when only about 38,000 votes remain to be counted, an insufficient figure to alter the current trend.
Although the result is not yet official, the margin achieved by Fujimori already places her as virtual president of Peru for the period 2026-2031, thus culminating a political path marked by three previous defeats in presidential second rounds.
A minimal victory and a divided country
The distance between both candidates has been much closer than the polls anticipated. Sánchez, candidate of the ruling party Together for Peru and considered the political heir of outgoing president Gustavo Petro, managed to cut a good part of the advantage that Fujimori had obtained in the first round.
The very tight difference also reflects the deep polarization that the country is going through. While Fujimori managed to prevail thanks to the support of the foreign vote and large conservative areas, Sánchez dominated a good part of the vote cast within Peruvian territory.
Precisely there lies the main focus of the controversy. The leftist candidate has requested the annulment of the vote of Peruvians residing abroad, arguing alleged irregularities in the custody and transmission of the electoral records. According to his calculations, if those votes were invalidated, the result would be reversed and he would be the one who would appear as the winner.
Furthermore, he has warned that he will not recognize a possible Fujimori government if the current result is successful and has hinted at mobilizations in the streets.
The return of Fujimorism to power
If the result is confirmed during the official count, Peru will witness the return of Fujimorism to the Government Palace 26 years after the fall of Alberto Fujimori.
The leader of Fuerza Popular, 51, is the daughter of the former president who governed the country between 1990 and 2000. and whose stage continues to generate enormous division among Peruvians. While its supporters highlight the defeat of the Shining Path and economic stabilization, its detractors recall cases of corruption and convictions for human rights violations.
For Keiko Fujimori, victory would also mean a personal vindication after having lost the second rounds in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
The final scrutiny will have the last word
Although the numbers clearly favor Fujimori, electoral authorities insist that the process has not yet concluded.
The national registrar, Hernán Penagos, asked for calm and recalled that the final result will depend on the official scrutinya legal procedure carried out by judges and notaries that will review minute by minute and resolve challenges presented by the campaigns.
The official proclamation could come in the coming weeks. If nothing alters the current result, Keiko Fujimori will be sworn in on July 28 and will put an end to a particularly turbulent decade in Peruvian politics, marked by presidential dismissals, institutional confrontations and a succession of up to eight presidents in just ten years.
