After three consecutive defeats, conservative Keiko Fujimori finally wins the Peruvian presidency

Conservative Keiko Fujimori won the presidential election in Peru. More than twenty days after Election Day, the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) reached 100% of the votes counted, resulting in a victory for the conservative candidate over Roberto Sánchez.

Fujimori, daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, received 50.1% of the votes, compared to 49.9% for Sánchez, a difference of approximately 50,208 votes out of more than 18 million votes cast.

The result was ultimately decided by mail-in ballot from Peruvians living abroad. While Sánchez held a lead of nearly 32,000 votes within Peru, Fujimori secured a margin of about 82,000 votes abroad—enough to overturn the national result.

The election pitted Sánchez, a left-wing candidate, against one of the best-known figures of the Peruvian right. In fact, this was the fourth consecutive time Fujimori reached the runoff in Peru, securing victory for the first time. The president-elect advocates for free-market policies and presents herself as a champion of order and economic stability.

“We accept this result with a great sense of responsibility and, above all, knowing that our country is practically divided and we have the great responsibility to listen to both sides,” Fujimori told the press on Monday. “What matters here is working for the future and the development of the Peruvian people,” she added.

The National Elections Board (JNE) plans to officially announce the results next Friday, July 3, at a ceremony where Fujimori will be declared the country’s president-elect. She will be formally sworn in on July 28, as part of a ceremony in Parliament to mark Peru’s National Day.

For his part, Sánchez had previously stated that he would not recognize a potential victory by his opponent, although he has not commented since the results were confirmed.

Fujimori’s victory was confirmed just a few days after the victory of the right in Colombia with lawyer Abelardo De La Espriella, confirming the conservative shift that Latin America has undergone since 2022.