Keiko Fujimori has won Peru's presidency on her fourth attempt, with the country's vote-counting office sealing one of the tightest results in modern Latin American history.
ONPE, Peru's National Office of Electoral Processes, finished processing 100% of the ballots on June 29, more than three weeks after the June 7 runoff. The final tally put the Popular Force leader at 50.135% — 9,223,396 votes — against 49.865%, or 9,173,755 votes, for Roberto Sánchez of Together for Peru. The gap came to 49,641 votes; a few outlets round it to roughly 49,600, but the figures themselves are consistent across sources.
1.2 Million Overseas Peruvians Broke for Fujimori
The arithmetic of how she got there is the story. Sánchez, a former psychologist and trade minister allied with jailed ex-president Pedro Castillo, ran strongest in the rural interior, and domestic ballots — counted first — kept him narrowly ahead for days. The picture flipped as votes from abroad arrived. About 1.2 million Peruvians were registered to cast ballots overseas, close to 4.4% of the electorate, concentrated heavily in the United States and Argentina, and they broke strongly for Fujimori.
Did that make the difference? Plainly, yes. Fujimori's advantage among overseas voters reached roughly 79,000 ballots — larger than her national winning margin of 49,641. One analysis calculated that stripping out the diaspora vote would have left Sánchez ahead by about 40,800, putting the total swing from abroad above 80,000. In other words, Sánchez won the vote inside Peru; the vote outside it delivered the presidency to Fujimori.
Sánchez Claims Fraud, Refuses to Recognize Results
That dependence is exactly what the loser is contesting. Sánchez has branded the runoff fraudulent and refused to recognize a Fujimori government, declaring on social media, "We will not recognise that government." He asked the JNE to void balloting at 119 consular offices, arguing that a late decision to stop scanning and digitizing overseas tally sheets — moving them physically to Lima instead — compromised their reliability. He offered no evidence of manipulation, and the JNE last week rejected as unfounded the appeals seeking to annul more than 2,300 overseas voting tables. Observer missions from the OAS and the EU reported no significant irregularities.
Fujimori has struck a measured tone. Writing on X after the count closed, she said the country was nearing "a path of order and hope," and told reporters outside her Lima home that she awaited the proclamation with "humility, prudence and responsibility", adding that a divided nation obliged her to listen to both sides. She has signaled a meeting with central bank chief Julio Velarde and is weighing cabinet names.
JNE: July 3 Proclamation, July 28 Swearing
What happens next is procedural but firm. JNE president Roberto Burneo says the panel will proclaim the winner by July 3 at the latest, with credentials handed to Fujimori and running mates Luis Galarreta and Miguel Torres on July 15 at Lima's Gran Teatro Nacional. Electoral lawyers note the JNE's final ruling is unappealable, meaning Sánchez's pending court actions are unlikely to alter the outcome or the calendar.
Her first day in office is July 28, Peru's Independence Day, when she will be sworn in before the newly bicameral Congress for the 2026–2031 term. Fujimori — daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, who governed from 1990 to 2000 — lost runoffs in 2011, 2016 and 2021, the last by about 44,000 votes. She topped the crowded April first round with 17.18% and now becomes Peru's first elected woman president — inheriting a polarized country that has churned through nine leaders in a decade.
