After four presidential bids, Keiko Fujimori has finally ascended to the Peruvian presidency.

History · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: The daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, Keiko Fujimori has spent decades as the face of Peruvian right-wing populism. After three narrow runoff defeats and years of legal battles, she secured the presidency in 2026, marking the return of Fujimorism to power twenty-five years after her father's government collapsed.

Born in 1975, Keiko Fujimori entered the public eye as the youngest first lady in the Americas at age 19, a role she assumed in 1994 after her father, Alberto, removed her mother, Susana Higuchi, from the position. Her political trajectory is inseparable from the legacy of her father, who governed Peru from 1990 to 2000. While she has distanced herself from his human rights abuses and corruption, she has consistently championed his neoliberal economic model and hardline security policies, eventually embracing his record as the best in the nation's history.

Fujimori's path to the presidency was marked by persistent electoral participation and legal turbulence. She served in Congress from 2006 to 2011 and led her party, Popular Force, through a decade of legislative dominance. Between 2016 and 2026, her party utilized obstructionist strategies to remove multiple presidents, effectively shifting power from the executive to the legislature. Throughout this period, she faced significant legal challenges, including a prosecution related to the Odebrecht corruption scandal that resulted in pretrial detention, though the case was ultimately dismissed in 2026.

Her 2026 victory over Roberto Sánchez followed a campaign focused on national security amid an extortion crisis. As the first woman directly elected to the office, her administration has already signaled a shift in foreign policy, including a pledge to strengthen ties with the United States and a recent suspension of relations with Iran. Despite her electoral success, political scientists note that her movement remains polarizing, sustained by a disciplined party organization and the enduring, negative partisanship of anti-Fujimorismo.

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