Fujimori and Sanchez advance to Peru’s Presidential Run-off on June 7
Peruvian election authorities have confirmed that right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori will face off against the left-wing Congress member Roberto Sanchez in the country’s presidential runoff, following a chaotic first round of voting.
Candidates will face off on June 7, 2026 election after first round of voting marred by logistical errors, fraud allegations.
Peru’s National Jury of Elections (JNE) confirmed the results of the first round of voting on Sunday, with the 50-year-old congresswoman Fujimori, the daughter of the late President Alberto Fujimori and candidate for Fuerza Popular, gathered 2.8 million votes, or 17.19% of the total. She reached a presidential runoff for the fourth time.
Left-wing Congress member RobertoSánchez, of Juntos por el Perú party and a former foreign trade minister under former President Pedro Castillo, got 2.015 million votes, or 12.03%.
Both beat 33 other candidates with promises to put an end to surging crime, the top priority for Peruvians whose country’s mining-driven economy has proved resilient to political instability.
More than 70% of voters did not chose either Fujimori or Sánchez in the first round, meaning both candidates will have to form coalitions if they hope to win in the runoff.
Peru has been embroiled in a long political crisis that has seen eight presidents come and go in nearly a decade of clashes between Parliament and the executive branch, and protests that left 50 demonstrators dead between 2022 and 2023.
The electoral body also acknowledged problems with the first round of voting, which was marred by count delays and logistical issues. It pledged to make fixes before the runoff next month.
“We cannot deny that there were many difficulties and flaws in the logistical deployment by the organising entity, ONPE,” JNE President Roberto Burneo said during a press conference.
“We have incorporated all the lessons learned from the first round and are strengthening oversight,” he added.
The elections body stated that a committee of national and international experts will be convened to ensure a smoother process during the second round of voting.
Shortcomings in the first round on April 12 led to voting in some places being extended to the next day.
The election-day hiccups underscored widespread discontent and mistrust with the country’s political system and sparked allegations of fraud from several candidates.
Election observers have acknowledged frustrations but cautioned that there is no evidence of fraud.
Far-right candidate Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who came in third place with 11.9 percent of the vote, has called for the first round of voting to be annulled. In a social media post on Sunday, he said he would not accept the results.
“The electoral fraud in Peru has just been consummated,” he wrote. “We will not accept results that are the product of fraud and corruption.”
The controversy over the first round of voting is the latest incident to underscore Peru’s ongoing political crisis, with nine different presidents holding power in the last decade due to frequent impeachment efforts by the country’s Congress.
The country’s public prosecutor’s office announced charges for financial crime against Sanchez last week, hours after election authorities announced he was on track to advance to the runoff.