Peruvians Vote for President Today in a Tight Race Between Far-Right and Left

Peru voted today, June 7, and if you've been watching Latin America at all, you know this one's been a long time coming — and it still might not be over tonight.

The runoff is between two candidates most Peruvians don't actually like. On the right is Keiko Fujimori, 51, and on the left is Roberto Sánchez, 57. Think of it as a choice between a political dynasty with a very dark history and a leftist whose centrist pivot hasn't exactly stuck. Neither is winning hearts — but one of them is going to run Peru.

Here's what's actually at stake:

The race is razor-thin. Polls going into today had the candidates essentially tied. The most recent Ipsos poll put Sánchez barely ahead — 43.8% to Fujimori's 43.2% — but with 13% of voters still undecided or planning to spoil their ballots. Polls closed at 5 p.m. local time. A winner could be called tonight, but given how close this is, it might be days before we know for sure.

Who is Keiko Fujimori? She's the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, a former strongman president who is credited with stopping hyperinflation and a brutal Maoist insurgency in the 1980s and '90s — but who also ran death squads, shuttered congress, bribed journalists, and was eventually sentenced to 25 years in prison for corruption. Keiko is running on her father's "mano dura" legacy — that's Spanish for "iron fist" — promising to crack down on crime and restore order. This is her fourth shot at the presidency after narrow losses in 2011, 2016, and 2021. Many Peruvians accuse her of being a sore loser who refused to concede in 2016 and alleged electoral fraud in 2021 with no evidence to back it up. Critics also blame her and her party for deliberately destabilizing multiple governments.

Who is Roberto Sánchez? He's a psychologist-turned-lawmaker who served as a minister under the disgraced ex-president Pedro Castillo — a leftist who beat Fujimori in 2021, but whose government collapsed after just 18 months in a blur of extremism, incompetence, and corruption allegations. Sánchez originally promised sweeping nationalizations and policies critics compared to Cuba or North Korea, but has since tried to reposition himself as a moderate. That pivot is undercut by the presence on his team of Antauro Humala, a former soldier who led a deadly military uprising in 2005 and still shows no remorse for it.

Why does Peru keep going through presidents? This election is set against a wild backdrop: Peru has burned through nine presidents in the last decade. Corruption, congressional power grabs, and political chaos are basically the norm. Crime has exploded — extortion incidents jumped 1,000% between 2023 and 2025, and the national homicide rate doubled between 2019 and 2024. Gangs are shaking down schools, small businesses, and taxi drivers. People are desperate for stability.

What about fraud concerns? There are real worries that whoever loses — especially if it's Fujimori — might cry foul again. She did it in 2021, international observers found nothing, and it still dragged on for months. That risk hasn't gone away.

Why it matters to you: Peru is South America's sixth-largest economy and a major copper and gold producer. The country's direction — toward more state control under Sánchez, or a harder-right, business-friendly crackdown under Fujimori — will ripple through commodity markets and regional politics. And for the estimated 1.5 million Peruvians living abroad, including large communities in the U.S., this election is deeply personal. If you've got money in Latin American markets or supply chains touching mining, watch this one closely.