For her adversaries, she remains the daughter of the “dictator”. For her supporters, the heiress of the man who saved Peru from chaos. Thirty-five years after Alberto Fujimori came to power, his daughter Keiko once again finds herself at the door of the presidency. Often classified on the far right, the 51-year-old candidate worked, throughout the campaign, to cultivate a more moderate image in the face of her far-left opponent Roberto Sanchez. The one who presents himself as “man of the people”recently blessed by Inca shamans, plays the card of popular and identity demands, going so far as to underline the Japanese origins of its rival.
Keiko Fujimori, for her part, defends the image of a modern Peru, “hardworking and disciplined”mobilized against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. At 51, she is no longer just the heir to a famous name. She has been part of the Peruvian political landscape for more than three decades. In 1994, at just 19 years old, she became First Lady after her father’s divorce. Member of Parliament for Lima, founder and president of the Fuerza Popular party, she has already run three times in the presidential election, without managing to overcome the final obstacle. This time again, she unabashedly claims her father’s heritage. The one who promises to have “hard hand against criminals, rapists, the underworld” presents itself as the continuation of the work of Alberto Fujimori.
During his ten years in power, between 1990 and 2000, the latter put an end to the bloody Shining Path insurrection, marked in particular by the spectacular arrest of Abimael Guzman, the “Pol Pot of the Andes”. “She says she will continue her father’s work in fighting crime. But many people hate Fujimorism. But as she is a persevering and quite cynical woman, she has gained an advantage over her opponent who, as a result, bears the image of the communist. However, in Peru, communism will never happen. The country suffered too much from revolutionary abuses. The Constitution no longer allows this type of experiment”analysis for the Tangwall Campagin Carlos Roca Caceres, former center-left deputy.
Nostalgia for order
This persistent distrust of the radical left also explains certain unexpected rapprochements. Already in 2021, the writer Mario Vargas Llosa, although beaten by Alberto Fujimori in the 1990 presidential election and long critical of the authoritarian turn of the regime, had called to vote for Keiko Fujimori in order to block an extreme left that he considered too close to the Cuban and Venezuelan models. With her program “Peru con orden” (“Peru in order”), the candidate has been repeating for months that she wants “restore order to allow growth”. A promise reminiscent of that of his father when he conquered power by presenting himself as the man of rupture in the face of a discredited political system. Because the context works in its favor. Since 2016, Peru has had no fewer than seven presidents. Dismissals, institutional crises, clashes between Parliament and the executive: the country has settled into chronic instability which today fuels aspirations for more authority.
“She’s pretending to be Trump’s candidate”
“Keiko leaves with a serious handicap: she is a woman. In a fundamentally macho Peru, his opponent is more reassuring. But she capitalizes on the father’s name and heritage”explains to Tangwall Campagin Juan Capunay, Franco-Peruvian political scientist. “Some remember a safer Peru, with a certain stability, controlled inflation, when things were not as bad as they are now. In a country where institutions are in disarray, nostalgia becomes a political argument. » This nostalgia, however, is not enough to erase the fractures.
Despite her smiles, her crowd baths and her dance steps on stage, Keiko Fujimori had to face hostile demonstrations throughout the campaign, often organized by radical left circles, who continue to denounce the repression carried out under her father’s regime. But its difficulties do not come only from the left. Eliminated in the first round, Rafael Lopez Aliaga, figure of the radical right and leader of Popular Renovation, denounced electoral fraud and announced that he would not vote for her in the second round.
“Keiko Fujimori disappoints, because she is not clear. She calls herself right-wing, but maintains relations with former left-wing Chilean president Michelle Bachelet. She pretends to be Trump’s candidate, but secretly continues to appeal to the Chinese. Nothing to do with Bukele or Milei ! In reality, many Peruvian voters feel cheated by this presidential election”estimates Diego Acuna, star journalist of the new Peruvian right. Defeated in 2011, 2016 and 2021, Keiko Fujimori has built, over time, a reputation as an eternal candidate. In Lima, a joke has been circulating for years: “Keiko? She is the permanent candidate for the presidential election! » With perseverance, she could end up having the last word.
