Topic summary
Presidential campaigns of Keiko Fujimori
- First Lady of Peru(1994–2000)
- Member of Congress(2006–2011)
- President of Popular Force(2009–present)
- President of Peru(2026–present)
Keiko Fujimori, leader of the Peruvian party Popular Force and eldest daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, ran for president of Peru in four consecutive general elections: 2011, 2016, 2021, and 2026. The only candidate in modern Peruvian history to reach four consecutive presidential runoffs, she lost the first three by narrow margins before defeating Roberto Sánchez in 2026 by fewer than 50,000 votes. The victory made her the first woman elected president of Peru, returning Fujimorism to the presidency 25 years after her father's government collapsed.
Fujimori's father's 1990–2000 government was a central issue in each campaign, and her position on his legacy shifted over time. She pledged not to pardon him in 2011 and 2016, signing a public commitment in 2016 to reject his government's authoritarian practices. She reversed this position in 2021, promising a pardon, and in 2026 campaigned on continuity with his security and economic record. Her platforms combined hardline "mano dura" security policies with support for Peru's market-oriented economic model. Each campaign also mobilized a durable "anti-Fujimorista" bloc (voters opposed to her candidacy on principle) which analysts have identified as a factor in her three defeats. Commentators have characterized her politics variously as conservative, right-wing populist, or far-right; she has presented Fujimorism as a modern conservative, law-and-order movement.
Through Fujimori's campaigns, Popular Force (founded as Fuerza 2011) became Peru's dominant legislative force, holding a congressional majority or leading bloc from 2016 onward and using it to destabilize successive presidencies and shield Fujimori from prosecution. From 2018 she faced the Odebrecht-related Cocktails Case, which alleged money laundering in her 2011 and 2016 campaign finances; she spent more than a year in pretrial detention before the case was dismissed in January 2026, days after she launched her successful fourth bid. Her candidacies were repeatedly marked by contested results: she made unsubstantiated fraud claims after losing in 2021, and her 2026 victory was similarly disputed by her defeated opponent.