Peru’s National Elections Board confirmed on Sunday that Keiko Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez will face one another in a June 7 presidential runoff, according to the Associated Press. The board’s announcement formalized the final vote count from the April first round, in which none of the 35 candidates crossed the 50% threshold required to win outright. Fujimori, the 50-year-old congresswoman and leader of Fuerza Popular, captured 2.8 million votes, or 17.19% of the total, while Sánchez, a former foreign trade minister under President Pedro Castillo, garnered 2.015 million votes, or 12.03%. The remaining more than 70% of the electorate was dispersed among 33 other hopefuls, underscoring the breadth of opposition to both front-runners.
The runoff unfolds as violent crime dominates the national agenda. Peruvians’ top priority is ending a surge in robberies, extortion, and homicides that has eroded the sense of security in both cities and rural areas. The country’s mining-driven economy has proved relatively resilient through years of political turmoil, but public patience with a revolving-door presidency has worn thin. Since 2016, eight presidents have come and gone amid brutal clashes between Congress and the executive branch, most recently when Castillo’s December 2022 impeachment triggered protests that killed 50 demonstrators over the following months.
Fujimori’s candidacy carries the weight of her father’s legacy. Alberto Fujimori, who governed Peru with an authoritarian hand from 1990 to 2000, is serving a 25-year sentence for human rights abuses and corruption. Keiko Fujimori has now reached a presidential runoff for the fourth time, having lost in 2011, 2016, and 2021. Sánchez, running on the Juntos por el Perú ticket, was Castillo’s foreign trade minister and is closely identified with the leftist administration that collapsed less than two years after taking office. Both candidates will need to forge alliances quickly: the election’s first round made clear that a decisive majority of Peruvians want an alternative, and whoever can present a credible coalition to address crime and governance fatigue is likely to win the presidency.