Peru's electoral court certifies Keiko Fujimori as president-elect
Peru’s National Jury of Elections, the country’s top electoral court, formally declared Keiko Fujimori the winner of the June 7 presidential runoff, ending weeks of counting and challenges. She took roughly 9.22 million votes to leftist congressman Roberto Sanchez’s 9.17 million, a margin of about 50,000. Sanchez drew more support inside Peru, but Fujimori’s advantage among overseas voters decided the race.
The certification hands the presidency to a divisive figure on her fourth attempt after three consecutive defeats. Fujimori, 51, is the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who was imprisoned for human rights abuses; she campaigned on a hard line against the organized crime that has surged across the country, and drew backing from U.S. President Donald Trump and Argentina’s Javier Milei.
She is set to be inaugurated in late July on Peru’s independence day, becoming the ninth person to hold the office in ten years — a run of resignations, impeachments and short-lived governments that has left the presidency chronically unstable. A narrow mandate and a fragmented Congress give her little cushion to break that pattern.