Peru Elections: Runoff Between Fujimori and Sánchez to Decide Ninth President in 10 Years

Peru is heading to a presidential runoff election, with voters deciding between right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori and left-wing candidate Roberto Sánchez.

More than 27.3 million Peruvians are eligible to vote in this election, which will determine the country's ninth president in a decade. The vote began at 7:00 AM local time and will conclude at 5:00 PM, with vote counting expected to take several days.

The choice lies between Fujimori, the political heir of former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) who is imprisoned for human rights abuses and corruption, and Sánchez, a supporter of former President Pedro Castillo (2021-2022), who is also jailed for a failed coup attempt in late 2022.

Electing Fujimori would mean a return to Fujimorismo, giving her party total government control 25 years after her father's downfall. She has lost three previous runoff elections. Sánchez, conversely, aims to vindicate Castillo, a former teacher from humble origins who promised to free him, appealing to rural sectors who feel marginalized by political and economic elites, including Fujimori.

The contest is once again framed by the Fujimori vs. anti-Fujimori divide, a dynamic that has dominated Peruvian politics since 1990. Recent elections have seen narrow victories for the anti-Fujimori forces, with differences of around 40,000 votes in 2016 and 2021. A similar close result is expected this time, with no clear indication of who will govern Peru from 2026 to 2031.