Keiko Fujimori to take office as Peru president with crime crackdown pledge

Keiko Fujimori will take office as Peru’s president on Tuesday after narrowly winning the June 7 runoff, promising a hardline response to violent crime and extortion.

The 51-year-old right-wing president-elect defeated leftist Roberto Sanchez by fewer than 50,000 votes after losing the previous three presidential runoffs. She will succeed interim leader Jose Maria Balcazar and govern until 2031.

Fujimori campaigned on security as Peru faces what the source describes as its worst crime crisis in decades, driven by local and foreign gangs involved in contract killings and extortion.

Her proposals include expelling undocumented people, creating courts with anonymous judges and requiring prisoners to work for their food.

She has also promised measures to prepare Peru for the El Nino climate phenomenon, which meteorologists predict will be the most intense and devastating since 1998.

Fujimori’s campaign was overshadowed by the divisive legacy of her father, Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru in the 1990s and was later jailed for corruption and crimes against humanity committed during what he considered a fight against terrorism.

Her Fuerza Popular party is the largest caucus in Congress, but right-wing groups lack the majority needed to pass her initiatives without support from other lawmakers.

Leaders expected at the inauguration include Argentina’s Javier Milei, Chile’s Jose Antonio Kast, Bolivia’s Rodrigo Paz, Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa and Uruguay’s Yamandu Orsi.

Fujimori will become Peru’s ninth president in a decade.