Keiko Fujimori, the conservative candidate and daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, has built an irreversible lead in Peru’s 7 June presidential runoff. With 99.86 per cent of tally sheets processed, the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) reported that Fujimori holds 50.11 per cent of valid votes against 49.88 per cent for leftist rival Roberto Sánchez, a margin of more than 43,000 ballots. Fewer than 40,000 votes remain uncounted, making it mathematically impossible for Sánchez to close the gap. The Jurado Nacional de Elecciones (JNE) has not yet formally proclaimed a winner, but late on Tuesday it rejected Sánchez’s petition to annul the overseas vote, removing the last legal obstacle to Fujimori’s victory.

Sánchez, who leads the Juntos por el Perú party and ran as the political heir of imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, announced he would not recognise a Fujimori government. Speaking in Lima, he claimed a “fraud in progress” and argued that the handling of ballots cast abroad — where Fujimori won more than 63 per cent — was marred by administrative irregularities. He called for street mobilisations on Saturday and pledged to take his case to international bodies. The JNE declared his nullity request inadmissible, citing late submission and non-payment of electoral fees. The European Union’s observer mission described the vote as “calm and orderly”, and the Peruvian civil society group Transparencia stated it had found no evidence of irregularities that compromised the integrity of the election. Fujimori’s Fuerza Popular party said it would await the full count before claiming victory.

A Fujimori presidency would deepen Latin America’s rightward shift, coming days after the election of anti-establishment conservative Abelardo De La Espriella in Colombia. Fujimori campaigned on a law-and-order platform, pledging military-backed patrols and immediate expulsion of foreign criminals, a message that resonated with an electorate alarmed by rising extortion and homicide rates. She has also positioned herself as a reliable partner for Washington, advocating clearer rules for foreign investment — a stance that, according to regional analysts, contrasts with her rival’s perceived alignment with Beijing. Domestically, she inherits a country that has cycled through eight presidents in eight years, none of whom completed a full term, and where four former heads of state are currently imprisoned. Her father, Alberto Fujimori, who governed from 1990 to 2000, was convicted of corruption and human rights violations, including massacres, and died in 2024 after serving 16 years of a 25-year sentence.

The official result is expected by mid-July, and the new president will take office on 28 July. Fujimori’s party holds the largest bloc in the newly elected Congress but lacks a majority, requiring coalition negotiations in a fragmented legislature. Sánchez’s refusal to concede and his call for protests raise the prospect of prolonged post-electoral tensions, echoing the weeks-long dispute that followed the 2021 runoff, when Fujimori herself contested her narrow loss to Castillo. The overseas vote, particularly from the United States and Japan, proved decisive: if excluded, Sánchez would hold a slim lead based on domestic ballots alone, a dynamic that has fuelled his allegations and deepened the geographic divide between urban coastal areas and the rural Andean south.