Overview
- Two polls published in late May show Keiko Fujimori ahead in the high-30s and Roberto Sánchez in the mid-30s, with about 27% of voters saying they will cast a blank ballot or are undecided one week before the June 7 runoff.
- The final campaign debate sharpened contrasting pitches: Fujimori promised a hard line on crime with military support for police and deportations while Sánchez focused on fighting corruption and creating an investigative police force.
- Hundreds of demonstrators marched in Lima and other cities protesting Fujimori and invoking her father Alberto Fujimori’s record of human rights abuses, with relatives of victims leading several marches.
- Distrust in the vote has grown after April’s logistical failures that delayed polling in many places and sparked fraud allegations, and ongoing legal and prosecutorial actions linked to the campaign add more uncertainty.
- Whoever wins will inherit a fragmented political system and a deepening security crisis that has seen frequent presidential turnover and rising extortion and violence, which could shape immediate policy and daily life for many Peruvians.