Overview
- The runoff, set for June 7, will pit conservative Keiko Fujimori against leftist congressman Roberto Sánchez after an April first round that left no candidate with a clear mandate.
- Fujimori leads on name recognition and a security-focused message that leans on her father’s ‘order’ legacy as crime and extortion top voter concerns.
- Sánchez qualified narrowly for the second spot and has won endorsements from figures on the left, giving him a coalition of protest and anti-Fujimori voters.
- The April vote suffered widespread logistical failures including delayed openings and long lines that sparked protests, prompting the elections board to bring in outside experts while observers reported no evidence of coordinated fraud.
- Both front-runners carry legal baggage—Fujimori’s unresolved Odebrecht-linked investigation and Sánchez’s encounters with prosecutors—which, together with high undecided and blank-vote intentions, leaves the outcome and public trust uncertain.