Peruvians head to the polls on Sunday for a presidential runoff that offers a choice between a perennial right-wing candidate and a leftist congressman, as the country tries to elect its ninth president in a decade. Keiko Fujimori, daughter of the late authoritarian president Alberto Fujimori, faces Roberto Sánchez, a former trade minister who has embraced the sombrero-wearing legacy of ousted populist Pedro Castillo. The matchup is a polarised left-right replay of 2021, and voters are as enthusiastic as someone asked to watch the same terrible movie twice.
Fujimori, 49, won 17% of the first-round vote in April, while Sánchez, 57, took 12%, edging out ultra-conservative ex-Lima mayor Rafael López Aliaga. This is Fujimori’s fourth presidential run and possibly her best shot, despite carrying the baggage of her father’s 16-year prison sentence for kidnappings and murders during his “war on terrorism.” Sánchez, meanwhile, has inherited Castillo’s rural supporters, many of whom believe the former president was unfairly ousted after trying to dissolve congress in December 2022. Castillo was sentenced to 11 years and five months in jail for rebellion in November 2025.
Pollsters predict a nail-biter: an Ipsos poll from Thursday puts Sánchez at 43.8% and Fujimori at 43.2%, statistically tied. The campaign started with a record 35 candidates but ends with two representing just 29% of the vote. Voter apathy is so high that more than 6 million Peruvians didn’t bother turning out in April, despite fines, and another 3 million spoiled their ballots - meaning blank votes would have won the first round. “If voting weren’t mandatory in Peru, the abstention rate would be much higher,” said Santiago Pedraglio, a sociologist at Lima’s Pontifical Catholic University.
Fujimori has leaned into her father’s “iron fist” reputation, promising a tough-on-crime stance as extortion and murder rates soar. But critics fear an authoritarian government, especially since her Fuerza Popular party holds the most seats in congress, which recently reinstated a bicameral system. Sánchez has pledged to free Castillo and draft a new constitution, though he backed down from firing the central bank chief. Some voters worry he’d be a “bad government” like Castillo, who was widely seen as incompetent. “The level of popular discontent and mistrust was already high 20 years ago; now it’s through the roof,” Harvard’s Steven Levitsky told La República. So pick your poison, Peru - just try not to reach for the blank ballot.