Keiko Fujimori wins Peru’s presidential election

• Keiko Fujimori was officially declared the winner of Peru’s presidential race by the country’s electoral office on July 3.

• Conservative Fujimori won 50.13 per cent of the votes in the June 7 runoff to clinch the nation's top office in her fourth run for the presidency, just ahead of leftist congressman Roberto Sanchez’s 49.86 per cent, a difference of about 50,000 votes out of 18 million.

• The slim margin is a reversal from the narrow loss Fujimori suffered in 2021, when she fell short by about 45,000 votes to former leftist President Pedro Castillo. 

• Castillo was impeached and jailed for trying to dissolve Congress in 2022.

• Fujimori will succeed interim leader Jose Maria Balcazar on July 28 for a five-year term.

• Balcazar took over in February after a series of presidential dismissals over accusations of corruption or abuse of power.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Fujimori on her victory in the election. Highlighting the longstanding and friendly relations between both countries, PM reaffirmed India’s commitment to further strengthening the bilateral partnership across diverse sectors.

She served as the First Lady of Peru from 1994 to 2000

• Fujimori is the daughter of late President Alberto Fujimori, who governed the country from 1990 to 2000 and was credited with defeating Maoist insurgents and taming runaway hyperinflation.

• But he was later disgraced, exiled and jailed for corruption and crimes against humanity committed in the name of fighting what he considered terrorism.

• Alberto served 16 years in prison for human-rights abuses and Keiko spent years under investigation over campaign financing allegations, which were dropped in 2025. 

• She became First Lady at 19 after her mother publicly broke with Alberto Fujimori.

• She held the role until November 2000, when her father resigned and fled to Japan.

• Fujimori will be Peru’s ninth president in 10 years.

• The 51-year-old inherits the task of running a country hit by powerful organised crime gangs and chronic political instability.