Peru: Fujimorism returns to power

On July 28, Keiko Fujimori will take office as president of Peru. She emerged as the narrow winner of the June 7 election with 50.13 percent of the vote: less than 50,000 votes separated her from the left-wing presidential candidate Sánchez.

In a brief interview with the “what happened last week?” newsletter, Peruvian journalist Valeria Vincente analyzes Fujimori’s election victory. She says it is the result of a deep political crisis in the country: “According to an IPSOS study from February, most Peruvians did not trust any of the candidates. (...) [Keiko Fujimori’s] victory should be understood in a broader context: the rise of the far right in Latin America.” For, much like Bukele in El Salvador, Keiko Fujimori makes use of populist rhetoric and focuses on issues of internal security, while maintaining close ties to the military.

Congress, dominated by Fujimori’s Fuerza Popular party, has also “has voted in a coordinated way to capture key state institutions, pass laws and reforms that guarantee impunity for themselves, remove senior public officials who stood in the way of their interests, and protect other officials implicated in cases ranging from corruption to human rights violations,” the journalist said. We are happy to include Vicente’s reference to the investigation by IDL-Reporteros on this topic (in Spanish).

A decisive factor for Fujimori’s term in office and the further course of the political crisis in Peru is likely to be whether the other right-wing to center-right forces in Congress rally to her side, thereby helping Fujimorism gain far-reaching power. “I want to become president to govern like my father did,” Fujimori had stated during the election campaign—Alberto Fujimori ruled the country authoritatively from 1990 to 2000 and was ultimately sentenced to 25 years in prison for human rights violations, corruption, and kidnapping.