Sanchez concedes Peru presidential runoff to Fujimori
Roberto Sanchez accepted Peru’s official election result after Keiko Fujimori was declared winner of a closely fought presidential runoff.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Roberto Sanchez has conceded Peru’s presidential election to Keiko Fujimori, ending his challenge to the official result after weeks of dispute over the June runoff. Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that the concession came days after Peru’s electoral authority declared Fujimori the winner.
Sanchez and his party said Monday that they accepted the National Elections Board’s formal proclamation of the results, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. The move closes a campaign season marked by polling-site problems, a slow count and repeated fraud allegations from Sanchez.
The National Jury of Elections, known as the JNE, certified the final count last week, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Fujimori received about 9,223,000 votes, while Sanchez received about 9,173,000.
Sanchez had taken a harder line in June, saying he would not recognize a Fujimori presidency and would instead begin what he called a popular and patriotic resistance movement, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. During the extended count, the 57-year-old congressman alleged irregularities and fraud, but election monitors said no evidence had emerged to support those claims.
A runoff after a crowded first round
Fujimori and Sanchez reached the June 7 runoff after finishing ahead of 33 other candidates in April’s general election, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Their contest highlighted a sharp political split in Peru, where years of instability have left the presidency weakened and the electorate fragmented.
Sanchez, the left-wing candidate for Juntos por el Peru, drew support from rural and Indigenous voters, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported. His campaign echoed parts of the movement behind former President Pedro Castillo, who was impeached and arrested in 2022 after trying to dissolve Congress.
On the campaign trail, Sanchez wore the same style of wide-brimmed straw hat associated with Castillo and common in the northern Andean region, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. His platform included rewriting Peru’s constitution to provide greater recognition and autonomy for the country’s ethnic groups.
Sanchez also called for stronger state oversight of natural resources and higher taxes on top earners, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
Fujimori prepares to take office
Fujimori, a right-wing candidate, campaigned on a tough-on-crime message and said after her victory that she would seek to unite Peru, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. The outlets reported that she was among several right-wing candidates backed by the administration of US President Donald Trump, which has taken a militarized approach to organized crime in Latin America.
Fujimori, 51, is the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori, who was imprisoned for human rights abuses before his death in 2024, Al Jazeera and Reuters reported.
When she takes office later this month, Fujimori is set to become Peru’s ninth president in 10 years, according to Al Jazeera and Reuters. Her term will begin as Peru prepares to restore a two-chamber legislature made up of a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies.
Al Jazeera and Reuters reported that Peru’s Senate was abolished in the 1990s under Alberto Fujimori, creating a single-chamber Congress. Critics of that system have said it made presidential impeachments too easy and too frequent.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.