Keiko Fujimori, virtual winner of the elections in Peru

BarcelonaNew right-wing triumph in Latin America, now in Peru. Keiko Fujimori has managed to overcome in the count that has been going on for weeks the left-wing candidate, Roberto Sánchez, by more votes than those remaining to be counted, and thus proclaims herself winner of the elections. Although the Peruvian electoral office has not yet officially declared a winner, the political heir of dictator Alberto Fujimori has a clear path to power after the same body has ruled out indications of manipulation in the elections and has dismissed Sánchez's request to annul thousands of votes cast abroad.

With 99.8% of the scrutiny completed, Fujimori has 50.11% of the valid votes compared to Sánchez's 49.88%, with a very narrow margin of 43,386 votes between them that can no longer be reversed, as approximately 26,200 votes remain to be tallied between the two candidates. Thus, in her fourth attempt, after running in the 2011, 2016, and 2021 elections, Fujimori finally achieves the presidency.

The count in the country has been dizzying: Fujimori started leading the scrutiny, but when 93% of the votes were counted, Sánchez overtook his rival and took the lead. The difference between the two widened, but always within very tight percentages of 50.1% for one candidate and 49.9% for the other, or even narrower margins. With 95% of the votes counted, the votes remaining to be counted within Peru mostly corresponded to rural areas, which were more favorable to Sánchez. But the entry of overseas votes turned the tables again, and Fujimori once again took the lead in the count.

Without providing any evidence, the left-wing candidate denounced this week that fraud was being committed in the counting of overseas votes, which were mostly favorable to Fujimori, and asked for them to be annulled. The National Electoral Processes Office (ONPE) of Peru, however, has dismissed the request. Faced with this situation, Sánchez has warned that he will not recognize the results, adding uncertainty to a country that has been particularly politically unstable in recent years: Peru has had eight presidents in the last decade.

The Fujimoris, in power 26 years later

The victory of the right-wing candidate means the return to power of the Fujimori family 26 years after the dictator Alberto Fujimori, hounded by a corruption scandal, fled the country. The former president, who ended up being a dictator, was convicted of crimes against humanity, but this has not been an impediment for his daughter and political heir to have claimed his figure and legacy during the campaign.

With Fujimori coming to power, his triumph adds to the ever-growing list of Latin American countries that have turned to the right in recent months. Despite being a political space much more rooted in institutions than the far-right formations that have won in other countries like El Salvador, Argentina or, just a few days ago, Colombia, ideologically Fujimori aligns with the majority of the positions of the leaders of this ultra-conservative wave.