Keiko Fujimori declared winner of razor-edge Peru election
President-elect Keiko Fujimori speaks during a news conference after electoral authorities declared her the winner of the presidential runoff in Lima
By Alessandra Freitas, CNN
Conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori has been declared the winner of Peru’s presidential race following a weeks-long vote count that ended with a razor-thin margin of victory in the deeply polarized South American country.
The country’s electoral office confirmed Friday that Fujimori, the eldest daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, had won the June 7 runoff vote in what was her fourth bid for the presidency after unsuccessful campaigns in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
In a post on X after the official proclamation, Fujimori thanked voters for their support and said Peru was entering “a new chapter.” She pledged to lead the transition with “responsibility, humility and a profound sense of duty.”
The announcement comes days after Peru’s National Office of Electoral Processes released a final vote count showing her Popular Force party edged leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez of Together for Peru by just 49,641 ballots out of about 18 million, taking 50.13% of valid votes to Sánchez’s 49.86%.
Fujimori, 51, will be sworn in as president on July 28 and is expected to serve a five-year term alongside Luis Fernando Galarreta as first vice-president and Miguel Ángel Torres Morales as second vice-president.
She will become Peru’s ninth president in a decade, taking over after a prolonged period of political instability that is often traced back to the presidency of her father, who was ousted in 2000 and later convicted on charges of corruption, embezzlement and human rights violations, and whose legacy remains deeply divisive in the country following a controversial pardon in 2023.
The result is expected to reshape Peru’s political landscape after one of the country’s most closely contested presidential elections in recent years.
Sánchez has previously said he will not recognize Fujimori’s government. Following the release of the final vote count, he alleged irregularities in the overseas vote and said he would appeal to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
In its declaration of Fujimori’s victory Friday, Peru’s National Jury of Elections said a review had found no such inconsistencies in the vote and rejected an appeal filed by Together for Peru.
The-CNN-Wire
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