Who is Keiko Fujimori, president-elect of Peru

Elections in Peru: Keiko Fujimori achieves irreversible advantage and must be elected
The new elected president of Peru, Keiko Fujimori, will assume the leadership of the House of Pizarro, the seat of the country's Executive, after three consecutive electoral defeats.
Daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori (1938-2024), the leader of the Peruvian right has been an inevitable figure in the political life of the Andean country for more than 20 years old, and the heir to a surname that continues to deeply divide the Andean country.
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Candidate defeated in three presidential elections (2011, 2016 and 2021), Keiko seemed doomed to remain the eternal runner-up. Her announced victory crowns more than 15 years of attempts to reach the country's top position.
According to the count by the country's National Elections Jury (JNE), she beat Roberto Sánchez by a narrow margin: 50.135% to 49.865%.
Keiko Fujimori on June 19, 2026
REUTERS/Stifs Paucca/File Photo
At 51 years old, Keiko Fujimori has been in politics since she was a teenager. Graduated in business administration in the United States, she was elected to Congress in 2006 with the highest vote ever recorded for a Peruvian parliamentarian.
The candidate also spent years under investigation for alleged irregular campaign financing. The case was dropped last year. Between 2018 and 2020, she was detained twice in pre-trial detention and spent almost a year and a half in jail.
Keiko has presented herself as the candidate most capable of restoring order and stability in Peru. In the campaign, she explored the context of violence experienced by the country, marked by an increase in homicides and extortion.
Voters' concern with security created a kind of nostalgia for Alberto Fujimori's style of government.
In the 1990s, he defeated guerrillas from the Sendero Luminoso group with the support of the Armed Forces.
In this wave, Keiko promises strict security measures, tougher anti-terrorism laws and a role expanded to the military in combating violence.
She states that she will wage a "frontal war" against crime.
The tougher speech and alignment with some of her father's ideas were seen as the emergence of a "new Keiko". Still, the party is keen to differentiate her from Fujimori, presenting her as a more democratic candidate.
The new strategy helped Keiko reduce the high rejection rates that marked previous campaigns. According to Ipsos Peru, 40% of voters said before the second round that they would not vote for her at all. The rate is lower than that recorded in the first round, when it reached 59%.
One of his first tasks will be to consolidate a solid base in the Legislature. Keiko's Força Popular had 22 senators and 45 deputies. Taking other parties into account, right-wing forces have 30 seats in the Senate and 63 in the Chamber of Deputies.
Brand positioning
In a Peru that changes leadership frequently, with eight presidents since 2016, Fujimori is perhaps the most consolidated in the country's politics. His surname resonates in every corner of the Andean country.
"It's a 'brand' that is well positioned, whether they like it or not", says political scientist Jorge Aragón.
Keiko grew up in the corridors of power and was a figure present in his father's government at the age of 19. Alongside him, he interacted with heads of state and international leaders.
A central figure in Peruvian politics, Alberto Fujimori governed the country in turbulent times. He defeated the guerrillas of the Maoist group Sendero Luminoso and the Guevaristas of the MRTA, controlled hyperinflation, but was also convicted of corruption and human rights violations, such as the forced tubal ligation of indigenous women.
For decades, Keiko was unable to free himself from the lights and shadows of his surname, which guarantees him contacts and a solid electorate.
"I miss him," he said in an interview with AFP on the eve of the election. "But wherever I go, they remind me and tell me stories", he commented.
"In the last 25 years, we have been governed by anti-fujimorist governments", which "dedicated themselves to insulting, generating hatred and division among Peruvians", said the then candidate. in 2024, but has come to be seen as a symbol of the fight against crime.
The former president's daughter promised to mobilize the military for a "war" against groups dedicated to extortion and expel migrants who commit crimes. "I will take the lead to fight criminals," she said recently.
'Blessed daughter'
In her close circle, she is described as "perseverant, determined and disciplined." Odebrecht, as part of the Lava-Jato operation.
Seen as a belligerent politician, Keiko has sought to soften her image and present herself in a more conciliatory manner. "In my political career, I also made mistakes, I learned from them; but I also stood up with much more strength", he said.
Keiko is the mother of two young women, one aged 18 and the other aged 16, the result of her marriage to an American man from whom she divorced. Her name in Japanese means "blessed daughter" or "fortunate". She is popularly known as "the Chinese", a nickname she received at school for her slanted eyes.
With information from the AFP agency.

Source: G1