Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru's president on Tuesday after winning the June presidential runoff by fewer than 50,000 votes, inheriting a nation fractured by deep regional divides and unresolved questions about deadly protests that claimed 50 lives just years ago. The conservative leader becomes the country's ninth president in a decade, taking office amid demands from opposition leaders and families of the dead for accountability and justice.
Outside the parliament in Lima, opposition lawmakers held photos of civilians killed during anti-government protests in late 2022 and early 2023 following the removal of former President Pedro Castillo. Relatives of the dead said they don't recognize Fujimori as president. The protests, which erupted in the third to fourth year after Castillo's removal, remain a stark reminder of the violence that can erupt when Peru's political institutions fail to represent communities in the Andean highlands, where Indigenous populations overwhelmingly rejected Fujimori at the ballot box.
A Nation Split
Fujimori was widely backed by voters in Peru's capital and along the Pacific coast, while voters in the highlands overwhelmingly supported left-wing candidate Roberto Sanchez, an ally of Castillo. Sanchez challenged the election results, arguing there were irregularities in how votes were counted at Peruvian consulates abroad, but electoral authorities dismissed his complaints. The geographic divide reflects a growing gap in living standards between coastal areas and communities in the Andean highlands, critics say.
The daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who led Peru in the 1990s and stabilized the economy while defeating terror groups but was later imprisoned for human rights abuses committed by the Peruvian military, Fujimori is a four-time presidential candidate and head of Peru's largest political party. Her father was pardoned in December 2023, in the third year after his conviction, and died in September the following year, in the second year after his pardon.
Security Promises and Controversial Models
Fujimori centered her campaign on promises to improve security in a country where extortion rackets have become a significant problem. She pledged to fight crime with an "iron fist," adopting some policies used by Salvadorean President Nayib Bukele, and said she would build a megaprison modeled after the notorious Cecot penitentiary in El Salvador. She said the military will "temporarily" lead security operations in crime-afflicted areas.
On Tuesday, she announced a 15% increase in the nation's minimum wage and said she would reorganize social services to fight malnutrition in rural communities. "My goal isn't only to administer the state," Fujimori said. "My main objective is to narrow the enormous social deficit that affects millions of Peruvians."
Opposition Demands Reversal of Crime Laws
Opposition leaders have asked Fujimori's incoming government to reverse a series of laws approved by Peru's last legislature, which critics say weaken efforts to fight organized crime. The laws eliminate preventive arrests and stop prosecutors from processing political parties involved in corruption under the same statutes as criminal groups. They also make it harder for police to confiscate the goods of criminal groups.
Opposition leaders are also asking the incoming government to create a commission to investigate the deaths of 50 civilians during the protests. Fujimori said she would implement reforms to let judges hide their identities as they oversee criminal trials to guarantee their safety. She also said she will focus on preparing Peru for the latest onset of El Niño, a weather pattern that warms ocean temperatures and often leads to flooding along the coast.
Fujimori's Popular Force party and its main ally, Popular Renovation, will hold half the senate seats once the new legislature is installed, making it harder for opposing legislators to try to remove her as president. Over the past decade, only three of Peru's presidents have been elected by popular vote. The rest came into office after their predecessors resigned or were removed by congress amid protests or corruption scandals.
Fujimori also promised to develop infrastructure by making it easier for government agencies to form partnerships with private investors. Despite the political friction, Peru remains one of the most stable economies in Latin America. Its central bank has long kept the benchmark interest rate below 5%, and the government is known for a conservative approach toward public spending.
Fujimori's June election victory, along with those of Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia and José Antonio Kast in Chile, underscored South America's shift toward the conservative wing, a stark contrast from the panorama of a few decades ago when left-wing leaders such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela or the current Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva emerged. Conservatives have won seven major presidential elections in Latin America in the past few years, most of them since the January 2025 inauguration of U.S. President Donald Trump, in the second year after his inauguration, in a winning streak propelled by concerns over crime, immigration and slow economic growth.
Why This Matters:
Fujimori's narrow victory and the protests outside her inauguration reveal a nation struggling with deep inequalities that economic stability alone hasn't resolved. The geographic split between coastal voters who backed her and highland communities who rejected her reflects disparities in living standards that critics have long warned about. Demands for accountability over the 50 deaths during protests and calls to reverse laws that weaken anti-corruption efforts show that many Peruvians see their institutions as failing to protect the vulnerable or hold power accountable. Whether Fujimori can bridge these divides while adopting hardline security measures modeled on El Salvador's controversial approach will determine whether Peru's cycle of political instability continues or whether democratic institutions can finally deliver for communities that have been left behind. The unresolved deaths and the regional fractures aren't just political problems—they're tests of whether Peru's democracy can represent all its people.