Keiko Fujimori inaugurated as Peru's president after narrow runoff victory

Keiko Fujimori, 51, was sworn in as Peru's president on July 28, 2026, after winning June's presidential runoff by fewer than 50,000 votes. She enters office as Peru's ninth president in a decade and the leader of the nation's largest political party, Popular Force, alongside its main ally Popular Renewal, which together will hold half the senate seats once the new legislature is installed.

Fujimori is the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who led the country in the 1990s and stabilized its economy while defeating terror groups, but was later imprisoned for human rights abuses committed under his rule by the Peruvian military. Alberto Fujimori was pardoned in December 2023 and died in September 2024. Keiko Fujimori has run for president four times before reaching office.

During her inauguration ceremony on July 28, opposition lawmakers protested outside parliament, holding photos of people killed during anti-government protests in late 2022 and early 2023 following the removal of former President Pedro Castillo. Relatives of the dead said they do not recognize Fujimori as president. Roberto Sanchez, the left-wing opposition candidate who lost the runoff, challenged the election results, arguing there were irregularities in how votes were counted at Peruvian consulates abroad, though electoral authorities dismissed his complaints.

Fujimori centered her campaign on promises to improve security in a nation where extortion rackets have become a significant problem. At her inauguration, she pledged to fight crime with an "iron fist," implementing some policies adopted by Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, and to build a megaprison modeled after the Cecot penitentiary in El Salvador. She said the nation's military will "temporarily" lead security operations in crime-afflicted areas. She also announced plans to implement reforms enabling judges to hide their identities as they oversee criminal trials to guarantee their safety.

Fujimori announced a 15 percent increase in the nation's minimum wage, promised to prepare Peru for the expected onset of El Niño, a weather pattern that warms ocean temperatures and often leads to flooding along Peru's coast, and said she will reorganize social services to fight malnutrition in rural communities. She has also promised to develop infrastructure by making it easier for government agencies to form partnerships with private investors.

Opposition leaders have asked Fujimori's incoming government to reverse a series of laws approved by Peru's last legislature which eliminate preventive arrests, stop prosecutors from processing political parties involved in corruption under the same statutes as criminal groups, and make it harder for police to confiscate the goods of criminal groups. They are also asking the incoming government to create a commission to investigate the deaths of 50 civilians during the 2022-2023 protests.

Geographic divides marked the election. Fujimori was widely backed by voters in Peru's capital and along the Pacific coast. Voters in the highlands, where there is a larger Indigenous population, overwhelmingly supported Sanchez, an ally of Castillo. Critics point out a growing gap in living standards between coastal areas and communities in the Andean highlands.

Peru continues to be one of the most stable economies in Latin America, with its central bank having kept the benchmark interest rate below 5 percent, and the government known for a conservative approach toward public spending. Fujimori's June victory, along with those of Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia and José Antonio Kast in Chile, underscored South America's shift toward the conservative wing. Conservatives have won seven major presidential elections in Latin America in the past few years, most of them since the January 2025 inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, propelled by concerns over crime, immigration, and slow economic growth.