LIMA, Peru — Conservative politician Keiko Fujimori was officially declared the winner of Peru’s presidential runoff election on Friday, with rising crime rates serving as the central issue that shaped the race.
At 51 years old, Fujimori is the daughter of a disgraced former Peruvian president and had been seeking the country’s highest office for the fourth time. She is set to become Peru’s ninth president in just ten years when she is inaugurated later this month.
The nation’s top election authority formally certified the results on Friday. Earlier in the week, election officials released final tallies showing that with every ballot counted, Fujimori received 9,223,000 votes — representing 50.135% of the total — while nationalist congressman Roberto Sánchez collected more than 9,173,000 votes, or 49.865%.
Both candidates advanced to the June 7 runoff after outlasting 33 other competitors in an April first-round vote.
The issue weighing most heavily on voters was a surge in criminal activity, particularly extortion carried out by violent organized crime groups. Fujimori campaigned on a tough-on-crime platform, promising to take an iron-fisted approach to combating the problem.
Fujimori is the daughter of the late Alberto Fujimori, who served as Peru’s president during the 1990s. His administration successfully dismantled the Shining Path extremist rebel movement, but his government also took an authoritarian direction. He was convicted in 2009 on human rights abuse charges stemming from the fight against the rebels, and later faced additional corruption convictions.
