She was a first lady at 19. Now she’s making her fourth attempt to win Peru’s presidency
Keiko Fujimori She was 19 when she made her international debut as First Lady of Peru at an event in 1994.
At the first Summit of the Americas, hosted by US President Bill Clinton, the young woman in black looked shy and nervous in front of the cameras on the arm of her father, then-President Alberto Fujimori.
Keiko Fujimori assumed the position after her mother, the late Susana Higuchi, separated from her father after he publicly condemned corruption in his government regarding the management of international donations. It marked the beginning of Fujimori’s political life.
This Sunday, the 51-year-old eldest daughter of Peru’s late former president will make her fourth attempt to win the presidency in runoff elections despite three consecutive defeats in 2011, 2016 and 2021.
He faces leftist candidate Roberto Sánchez and may be in a better position to win this time, with some pollsters predicting a slight lead.
Fujimori insists that he offers Peruvians the best alternative to restore security and save the country, which has been beset by a state of persistent political and institutional crisis that has resulted in eight presidents in the last decade and has been worsened by corruption scandals, rising crime and insecurity.
“We need order; order of living, order of investment, order of work,” the conservative candidate repeated during the presidential debate against Sánchez of the Juntos por el Perú (Together for Peru) party.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, left, and his daughter Keiko Fujimori arrive at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables, Florida, for a private dinner hosted by U.S. President Bill Clinton on December 9, 1994. – Roberto Schmidt/AFP/Getty Images/File
“I know this election is not about me, but I know it is about what kind of government and the direction we want for the next five years. We either want chaos and disorder, or we maintain order and work for the future of our country,” Fujimori added.
The heir to Fujimorism became a congressman in 2000, founded the Fuerza Popular (Popular Power) party, and spent 13 months in prison while under investigation for corruption and for allegedly taking money from the Odebrecht construction company to finance his presidential campaigns; He has repeatedly denied this accusation.
In January 2025, a court declared the case against him invalid. Fujimori claims he was subjected to political persecution for a decade.
A campaign with a different tone
After the dramatic 2021 runoff election against former President Pedro Castillo, which was marred by allegations of voting irregularities, Fujimori was forced to admit mistakes in his political career as he tried to win the support of voters.
Addressing Peruvians at the end of the last presidential debate, he said, “I know I have made mistakes throughout my political life. I have learned from them, but I have also come back stronger.”
During this campaign, the right-wing candidate tried to project a more reserved, calm image with less extreme positions. “It’s true that we were confrontational, and we fixed that,” he said in an interview.
This aerial view shows Keiko Fujimori, Peru’s presidential candidate for the Fuerza Popular party, speaking to supporters during a campaign rally at the Peru-Korea Esplanade in the Ventanilla region of Peru on April 2. -Connie France/AFP/Getty Images
Julio Carrión, a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware, told CNN that Fujimori is making “a more calculated effort to get rid of the image of someone who is just trying to fight communism and everything else.”
That stance “is a fundamental mistake in 2021, because he framed his campaign as either the fight against communism or the defense of democracy,” the Peruvian political expert told CNN, referring to the 2021 runoff against the leftist Castillo.
After the first round of the 2026 elections, Fujimori did not immediately join the allegations of voting fraud made by People’s Renewal candidate Rafael López Aliaga, as some expected.
His father’s legacy and anti-Fujimori sentiments
Alberto Fujimori’s complex legacy has divided Peru for decades, galvanizing anti-Fujimori votes during his previous campaigns when he was seen as a continuation of an authoritarian regime that posed a threat to independent democratic institutions.
Alberto Fujimori served as president from 1990 to 2000. According to the truth and reconciliation commission, Fujimori’s government rescued the country from the brink of economic collapse and defeated the Shining Path and MRTA terrorist groups in a civil conflict that left more than 60,000 people dead.
But his regime was plagued by allegations of human rights abuses and corruption that led to his conviction decades later. He faced four legal proceedings in 2009, one of which resulted in a 25-year prison sentence, for aggravated murder and bodily injury in the Barrios Altos and La Cantuta cases. The former president died in 2024, following legal struggles and public debates about granting amnesty due to his health condition.
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori raises the arm of his eldest daughter, Keiko Fujimori, after receiving the official mandate appointing him as president for five years at the Government Palace in Lima on May 12, 1995. -Marie Hippenmeyer/AFP/Getty Images
Citizens groups, students and human rights organizations marched in downtown Lima last Saturday to reject her candidacy under the slogan “Keiko no va”, meaning “Keiko will not make it.”
But Carrión notes that anti-Fujimori votes have not yet proven to be that significant among younger generations, especially those born after the former president was ousted from power in 2000.
Another factor that could benefit Keiko Fujimori this time is that her rival Roberto Sánchez appears to have tried but failed to imitate the image projected by former President Castillo (including his famous hat). “He lacks the appeal of a separate identity; he does not have the image of a new, popular candidate that Castillo has in 2021,” Carrión explained.
a heavy burden
But according to his critics, whether Fujimori wins or loses, he shares responsibility for the political instability and corruption the country has experienced in recent years.
As the leader of Fuerza Popular, the majority party in the current Congress, Fujimori is accused of ruling the country through his party’s congressional caucus, undermining the autonomy of the executive branch, interfering with independent institutions, promoting legislation that protects certain interests, such as pro-crime laws, and orchestrating the impeachment of previous presidents or protecting others.
A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that, “rather than strengthening public institutions,” lawmakers are facilitating the spread of organized crime by weakening the legal framework and the independence of judges and prosecutors. According to HRW, most members of Congress are driven by “personal interests and the pursuit of self-interest.”
Peru’s presidential candidate Fujimori greets supporters during a campaign event at the Eden market in Callao, Peru, on May 18. -Connie France/AFP/Getty Images
“His party and himself are connected to what has happened in Peru in the last three or four years… So this is a burden that he has to bear,” Carrión said. “The problem with Roberto Sánchez is that, being a member of Congress, he could not highlight this weak point of Keiko Fujimori, because his party voted in favor of certain laws together with the party of Fujimori – in some cases, but not always.”
In an interview with CNN, Fujimori denied that he and his party were responsible for the chaos and political crisis in Peru. He made some self-criticisms about the role he played in relation to former President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, who resigned in 2018.
“We clashed a lot with Pedro Pablo Kuczynski’s government, but we were not obstructionist, because we gave them (approved) the most important laws and, above all, broad powers to reform… unfortunately they did not know how to take advantage of them,” he told CNN last week.
Allegations of dysfunction and corruption in Peruvian politics, in which other candidates were also accused during this election period, caused voters to be cautious. This was reflected in the first round results, where no candidate in the 35-strong longlist received more than 20% of the votes.
With Sunday’s second round of voting and voting mandatory in the country, most Peruvians remain undecided, while others have said they will choose what they think is the “less evil” and some have called for the ballots to be spoiled, according to recent polls.
Keiko Fujimori greets supporters as she arrives at a rally in Huacho, Peru, on June 2. -Guadalupe Pardo/AP
Those who decided to support Fujimori in his fourth bid say that this time he is better prepared and positioned to assemble a government team that will restore much-needed investor confidence.
Rafael Belaúnde, who ran against Fujimori in the first round of voting with the centre-right Libertad Popular, said: “Ms. Fujimori, about whom there may be doubts and even disagreements, has committed to respecting the Constitution, committed to governing for the period required by law, proposes a market economy that attracts private investment, respects freedoms, and is determined to address a major social agenda and social debt that certainly awaits in Peru.” (People’s Freedom) party told CNN.
Belaúnde claims that he decided to support the leader of Fuerza Popular and join his technical team after observing that Fujimori was stronger than he was five years ago and in light of what he called “the danger Sánchez poses to the economy.”
More than three decades after entering political life, Fujimori may have a shot at becoming the country’s ninth president within a decade.
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