Keiko Fujimori Takes Office After Peru's Tight Vote

Keiko Fujimori has taken office as president of Peru after one of the closest elections in the country's modern history, beginning a five-year term with promises to confront organised crime, prepare for El Nino and revive investment.

Fujimori was sworn in on July 28 after defeating left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez in the June runoff by fewer than 50,000 votes. Peru's electoral authority certified her and vice presidents Luis Galarreta and Miguel Torres for the 2026-2031 term after dismissing challenges to the overseas vote count.

The narrow result left the new president with a formal mandate but little political room for error. Fujimori won strong support in Lima and along the Pacific coast, while Sanchez dominated much of the Andean highlands. The divide reflects longstanding differences in income, access to public services and attitudes toward Peru's political establishment.

Security leads the new government's agenda

In her first national address, Fujimori placed citizen security at the centre of her programme. Extortion and organised crime have become major concerns for businesses, transport workers and families, and she campaigned on a tougher state response.

Her government has proposed a larger operational role for the armed forces, technological upgrades for the national police and changes to the prison system. During the campaign, she also backed a large high-security prison inspired by El Salvador's approach and reforms intended to protect the identities of judges handling dangerous criminal cases.

The strategy will face scrutiny from civil-liberties groups and opposition lawmakers. A forceful response may be popular among voters frustrated by crime, but Peru's recent history makes oversight, due process and safeguards against abuse especially important.

El Nino and the economy are immediate tests

Fujimori said her administration would treat preparations for El Nino and public security as national emergencies. She promised a prevention-focused contingency plan rather than waiting for floods, infrastructure damage and displacement before releasing resources.

Economic policy is the second major test. Peru remains one of Latin America's more stable economies, supported by a cautious central bank and conservative public finances, but national averages conceal sharp regional inequalities. Communities in the highlands often experience weaker services and fewer economic opportunities than coastal urban areas.

The president has said she wants to reactivate employment, investment and private enterprise. Her plans include making it easier for government agencies to work with private investors on infrastructure and reorganising social programmes aimed at malnutrition in rural communities. She also announced a 15 percent rise in the minimum wage.

These commitments will have to compete for funding with security operations and climate preparation. The government will need to show not only that programmes are announced, but that they reach areas that have historically received less state investment.

Congress may offer more stability than before

Fujimori becomes Peru's ninth president in a decade, a period marked by resignations, removals and repeated clashes between presidents and Congress. Only three of those leaders entered office through a direct popular election.

Her Popular Force party and its main ally, Popular Renovation, are expected to hold half of the Senate seats under the new legislature. That position could reduce the immediate threat of removal that weakened previous administrations, although it does not guarantee support for every bill or protect the government from public opposition.

The first cabinet discussions focused on seeking legislative powers to respond more quickly to crime, employment and state modernisation. They also considered continued emergency intervention in the prison system. How Congress defines and supervises those powers will be an early measure of institutional balance.

Fujimori's family legacy remains unavoidable

Keiko Fujimori is the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, whose 1990s government defeated armed groups and stabilised an economy in crisis but later became authoritarian. He was convicted over corruption and human-rights abuses committed during his rule, received a pardon in 2023 and died the following year.

That history continues to divide Peru. Supporters associate the Fujimori name with order and economic recovery; critics see it as a warning about concentrated power and abuses by the state. The new president's conduct, particularly in policing protests and implementing security policy, will determine whether her administration can separate itself from the most controversial parts of that legacy.

Opposition lawmakers protested during the inauguration, carrying photographs of people killed during demonstrations in late 2022 and early 2023 after the removal of Pedro Castillo. Opposition groups have called for an investigation into those deaths and for the reversal of laws they say weakened tools used against organised crime and corruption.

A narrow victory demands broad governing

Fujimori's inauguration ends the election but not the dispute over Peru's political direction. The government begins with meaningful congressional strength and a clear security message, yet it must govern a country divided by geography, class and competing memories of the Fujimori era.

Results will matter more than ceremony. Progress on extortion, climate readiness, rural nutrition, jobs and infrastructure could broaden her support. Heavy-handed enforcement, weak oversight or failure to address regional inequality could deepen the divisions visible in the runoff. Peru's latest transfer of power is constitutional; the harder task is turning that legitimacy into durable government.