LIMA: Peru’s conservative president-elect Keiko Fujimori vowed to restore “order and hope” as final results showed she narrowly won election in the latest victory for a resurgent Latin American right.
She inherits the task of running a country hit by powerful organised crime gangs and chronic political instability, as it burned through eight presidents in the past decade.
Her win also means the name Fujimori is back in the presidential palace more than two decades after the fall of her late iron-fisted father, Alberto. His record and legacy, which include jail time for human rights crimes, still divides the country.
Keiko Fujimori won the Jun 7 presidential runoff by the slimmest of margins, outpolling leftist Roberto Sanchez by fewer than 50,000 votes out of the more than 18 million ballots cast, the final results showed.
“Each time we draw closer to starting on the path of order and hope for all Peruvians,” she wrote on X after being proclaimed the winner.
The 51-year-old daughter of the late Fujimori secured the top office on her fourth attempt.
The election was fought on rising crime and chronic political instability best exemplified by the revolving door presidency.
With extortion gangs and contract killings on the rise, Fujimori vowed a strong hand, like that of her autocratic father.
“She will govern well because she has good proposals. She has good ideas for doing something for Peru,” said Jenny Martinez, a 40-year-old vendor in Lima.
Alberto Fujimori, who ruled from 1990 to 2000, won praise for crushing Maoist rebels and taming hyperinflation but was later disgraced, exiled and jailed for corruption and crimes against humanity committed in the name of fighting what he considered terrorism.
Sanchez had yet to react to the announcement of the results.
At one point, he took the lead in the vote count but Fujimori soon surpassed him.
Sanchez had warned he would not recognise a government headed by his rival, alleging administrative irregularities in the handling of the overseas portion of the vote.
DARK MEMORIES
Fujimori will take office on Jul 28 for a five-year term.
She is the latest in a string of Latin American leaders to ride a wave of right-wing sentiment and anger over rising crime to their country’s top office – the others including Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile.
Fujimori acknowledged Monday her country is deeply divided.
“We have the responsibility of listening to both sides. The doors for dialogue are open,” she said, alluding to Sanchez and others on the left.
Long seen as confrontational, she worked hard on the campaign trail to soften her image.
Poised and polished, with a penchant for trouser suits and a practised smile, she grew up around heads of state.
She became first lady at 19, after her mother publicly broke with Fujimori, and trained in the United States as a business administrator.
For decades, the Fujimori brand has been a help and a hindrance, giving her instant recognition, a loyal voter base and deep political networks – but also plenty of critics.
Millions of Peruvians harbour dark memories of her father’s rule and refuse to vote for anyone named Fujimori, blocking her path to the presidency three times.
Critics also blame her and her party for much of Peru’s political instability, citing Fuerza Popular’s heavy influence and deal-making in Congress.