A notorious strongman’s daughter is one step from power. What comes next?

A long road to power

The 2026 presidential campaign in Peru could finally bring victory to Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Alberto Fujimori, the country’s former president (1990-2000) and leader of the Popular Force party. In Peru, opinions about Alberto Fujimori are highly divided: Some call him a hardliner who brought order to the country with an ‘iron fist’ policy, while others consider him a corrupt dictator. 

This is the fourth presidential race in Keiko Fujimori’s career. She has previously lost in the runoff three times – in 2011, 2016, and 2021– to candidates from the center (or center-right) and left parties.

This year, on counting 99.859% of the ballots, results show that Fujimori has garnered 50.118% of the vote, placing her ahead of Roberto Sanchez from the left-wing party Together for Peru. Fujimori currently leads by around 43,000 votes, but this is standard practice in the highly fragmented Peruvian society, where the outcome of the presidential race could be decided by a razor-thin margin.

The runoff was held on June 7, but due to difficult terrain and the impossibility of organizing faster ballot delivery logistics, ballots are still being counted. Voting abroad will also influence the election results.

“It’s noteworthy that Fujimori lost the election within Peru and won thanks to votes from abroad. This demonstrates the rejection of ‘Fujimorism’ as a political project within the country, but shows that it is supported abroad,” Viktor Heifets, a professor at the St. Petersburg State University (SPbU) and director of the SPbU Center for Ibero-American Studies, told RT.

Heifets also points out that so far, Fujimori has received roughly the same percentage of votes as in the previous elections, and the margin is also minimal, which may indicate the persistence of Fujimorism as a political phenomenon in Peru. Clearly, public sentiment is inclining toward harsher methods of governance and establishing order in the country.