Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru's president on Tuesday, taking office after winning June's run-off election by fewer than 50,000 votes. The 51-year-old defeated Roberto Sanchez and becomes Peru's ninth president in a decade, a measure of how little political room her new government has been given.
In Congress during her inauguration ceremony, Fujimori vowed to faithfully carry out the duties of president of the republic. She did so after a campaign built around law and order, and after promising to restore stability in a country worn down by years of political turmoil and one of its worst security crises in decades.
That promise now carries the weight of her margin. Fuerza Popular is the largest bloc in Congress, but it is not a majority on its own, and the size of her mandate leaves her dependent on lawmakers she cannot fully command. She has pledged an iron-fist approach to crime, including a mega-prison modeled on El Salvador's Cecot facility, anonymous judges for criminal trials, deportations of undocumented migrants and forcing prisoners to work for their food. Supporters see a leader willing to move fast. Critics see a path back toward the heavy-handed methods associated with her father.
That fear is not abstract. Fujimori is the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, who ruled Peru during the 1990s, was later convicted of corruption and crimes against humanity and served 16 years in prison. Relatives of victims of state violence gathered in Lima on the eve of her inauguration to reject her incoming government, while opposition groups urged her to reverse recent laws they say have weakened efforts to tackle organised crime and to reopen investigations into the deaths of dozens of protesters in 2022 and 2023.
Cesar Fuentes put the concern bluntly: he said she is going to be a replica of her father. Whether Fujimori uses her narrow win to rebuild authority or to push Peru deeper into confrontation now turns on how far she goes in the name of security, and how much space Congress gives her to do it.
