Keiko Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez faced off in Peru’s only televised debate before the runoff, giving voters a final on-air look at two sharply different plans for the country. The one debate came as the race narrowed and the latest Ipsos poll, released the same Sunday, showed Sánchez nearly three percentage points behind.
The debate was split into four blocks: citizen security, strengthening the democratic state and human rights, education and health, and the economy, employment and poverty reduction. That format forced both candidates to move beyond slogans, and it put Fujimori’s defense of the 1993 Constitution, including privatization of national resources, directly against Sánchez’s challenge to the current model.
Fujimori leaned hard into private sector growth, arguing for an ordered country built around investment and the market. Sánchez, who was running in place of imprisoned former president Pedro Castillo, answered with a more confrontational message. He said he would save democracy from structures that hijacked the justice system, and he pointed directly at Fuerza Popular and Fujimori as responsible for corroding the country.
The contrast was not only ideological. Sánchez, a former minister under Castillo, also tried to ground himself in personal identity, affirming his Ayacuchano roots and his faith while claiming local government experience. His supporters answered with white, red and green flags, a visual show of discipline for a candidate trying to close a polling gap on a night when every line mattered.
That gap was the reason the debate carried extra weight. Ipsos put Sánchez nearly three percentage points behind Fujimori, enough to make the only televised runoff face-off feel less like a formality than a last chance to shift undecided voters. For a campaign already shaped by protests against Fujimori and recurring criticism of Peru’s justice system, the stage offered a compressed version of the country’s political divide.
Juancho, one voter in the crowd, said he supported the leftist project and wanted laws oriented toward serving the people. It was a plain demand, but it captured what Sánchez needed from the night: not just applause, but proof that his message could still reach Peruvians beyond his base. The runoff remains the next test, and this debate now stands as the clearest snapshot of the choice voters were being asked to make.
