2011 general election Creation of Fuerza 2011 On 13 January 2008, Fujimori announced the creation of a new political party,
Fuerza 2011, that would nominate a candidate for 2011. It would nominate her if her father was blocked from running by the law. Before the ruling, Fujimori had organized another demonstration that had managed to obtain the attendance of 10,000 people, where she challenged the existence of any evidence against her father.
Rafael Rey, minister of defense, Peruvian representative to the Andean Parliament and member of the conservative party
National Renewal, was the first vice-presidential candidate while
Jaime Yoshiyama, her father's former minister during his presidency, was the second. Throughout the entire campaign, Fujimori fiercely defended her various proposals, among them to apply the death penalty to certain crimes, create jobs, fight poverty, control public accounts, sponsor free trade, counter crime, begin an "offensive against corruption", improve the education system via a reward initiative for excellent teachers, and an accompanying system for gauging teacher skills.
Elections During the campaign for the first ballot, Fujimori became embroiled in a new scandal as she admitted to having received donations from people allegedly involved in drug trafficking during her run for Congress in 2006. She admitted to having received 10,000 dollars from two convicted women who, according to Fujimori, were victims of persecution. Opinion polls granted her high possibilities to win the presidential elections in 2011; she was leading in presidential election polls as of July 2010. In the first round of the
2011 presidential elections, Fujimori received 23.551% of the votes (3.4 million), second only to
Ollanta Humala, a leftist nationalist candidate who received 31.699% of the votes.
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was third with 18.512%, followed by
Alejandro Toledo and
Luis Castañeda, ex-mayor of Lima. Kuczynski and Castañeda subsequently declared their support for Fujimori while Toledo declared for Humala. With 37 representatives, Fuerza 2011 became the second most powerful party in congress. Fujimori's brother, Kenji Gerardo Fujimori, was elected representative for Lima, receiving the most votes of any national candidate. The second vote was polarized. In this process, she moderated her position in order to capture more of the vote, distancing herself more from her father. Near election date, polls indicated effectively a tie due to the margin of error. The election was also marked by fearmongering by both sides of the aisle. According to Sinesio Lopez, professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, "Humala's candidacy fed into fears that his political program would kill small businesses. Keiko's candidacy, meanwhile, fed into fears of a return to corruption and violation of human rights that had occurred during her father's government." Humala was also branded by his opponents as a purportedly Chavista authoritarian. As a result, both were incredibly polarizing figures, with polls showing that both encountered stern rejection from about 50% of the population during the first round of voting. She had received the majority of her support from the business community, conservatives, the majority of the press, liberal professionals, small businesses, the church, and much of the Lima middle class.
Post-campaign of 2011 After her 2011 defeat, Fujimori began to work toward a renewed campaign for 2016. According to her, she had chosen a new name for the party so that it "would be able to last in the times." Fujimori herself declared "we are submitting a letter to president Ollanta Humala in order to inform him of this request for freedom. It will be personal letter from four children to inform him of the commencement of this process." In June 2013, Humala denied the request for clemency, alleging that according to a medical professional, the ex-president did not suffer from any terminal illness nor any serious and incurable mental illnesses. In January 2015, her father was convicted for a third time, this time sentenced for eight years for having been guilty for misappropriation of public funds to buy off tabloids for his 2000 election. Between 2011 and 2016, Fujimori intended to strengthen her party, travelling across the country to mitigate the hesitancy many still had toward her because of her connection to Alberto Fujimori, a factor that had been decisive in her 2011 defeat. She dedicated herself to cutting the association, including by removing corrupt members of her party and reaching out to youth. Her electoral base continued to be in Lima and the center of the country. Although she did not serve out a single public function during this period that could have increased her visibility, Fujimori led all opinion polls throughout 2015, with more than 30% support. Her running mates were ex-minister of agriculture and irrigation
Jose Chilmper Ackerman for first vice president and Vladimiro Huaroc Portocarrero, ex-regional governor of
Junin as the second vice president. Fujimori outlined six "pillars", among them defense of institutions of a higher law, independence of powers, protection of human rights, support for limiting the armed forces, a free market, tax cuts, incentives for small businesses, use of emergency state funds to kickstart the economy, increase in supply of government bonds, and expansion of electrical and internet infrastructure in rural areas. In January 2016, there were 19 presidential candidates, but by the first vote, nine had been expelled or dropped out.
César Acuña and
Julio Guzmán, two of the main competitors, had been excluded according to the
National Jury of Elections. The candidacy of Acuña was interrupted because he gave money to the people during the campaign and Guzmán was forced out of the race because of questions about whether his party functioned democratically. Fujimori was not free of accusations as the JNE also requested her removal from the election after it came to light that she had received donations larger than those allowed by the election laws. Fujimori countered that the accusations against her were "irresponsible" and alleged insufficient evidence. The JNE dismissed the claims as unfounded, declaring that "The candidate has not engaged in the prohibited activities of offering or giving money or gifts in the aim of obtaining votes." The outcome provoked suspicions that the original exclusionary rulings had been made in favor of Fujimori's candidacy, calling into question the clarity of the system for applying the election rules. With Acuña and Guzmán's disqualifications, her main opponents were now the center-right economist and former minister
Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK), the left-leaning psychologist and congresswoman
Veronika Mendoza, and the former delegate
Alfredo Barnechea. Also in the ring were
Alan Garcia and
Alejandro Toledo, ex-presidents whose prospects were dim because of investigations and revelations connecting them to
Operation Car Wash. On the anniversary of the self-coup of 1992, more than 50,000 demonstrators, most of them called by the non-profit organization
No a Keiko, protested Fujimori's candidacy with chants such as "Fujimori never more" in the
Plaza San Martin. As she had done in the previous elections, she promised to not pardon her father, but promised also to continue the struggle in court for his release; she also affirmed that this was a decision taken by the whole family, not just herself. The appeals process intensified, bringing Keiko to distance herself from the controversial shadow of her father, vowing to not follow his path, to provide
reparations to women who were allegedly sterilized under her father, and to promise to not pardon him for his crimes, signing a document during a debate symbolizing her promise. She also stated that she would not run for another election if she won the presidency. Fuerza Popular obtained an absolute majority in the congress, garnering 73 of 130 available seats. After learning of the results, Fujimori said, "The new political map that has been drawn clearly shows us that Peru wants reconciliation and does not want any more violence." However, as no candidate had obtained a majority of votes for president, a second vote would be scheduled for 5 June. In this next stage of the campaign, Fujimori traveled across the country, especially to where her father continued to maintain a steady level of popularity, while PPK talked about possible allies and intended to present himself as a centrist candidate capable of winning over the antifujimorista vote. Fujimori continued to be the favorite according to polls, but her campaign suffered a major setback: as the election approached, accusations surfaced of connections between drug trafficking and Congressman
Joaquín Ramírez, Secretary General of Fuerza Popular and one of Fujimori's principle aids. On 15 May 2016, Peruvian news program
Cuarto Poder broadcast a report conducted with
Univisión that alleging that Ramírez was being investigated by the DEA for money laundering. According to the report, the DEA had a recording in which Ramirez told a commercial pilot, "Do you know that
China [referring to Keiko] gave me 15 million dollars during the last campaign in order to "clean" them for the 2011 campaign, and that I 'cleaned' them through a chain of faucets?" The DEA denied that there was any investigation into Fujimori, who denied any involvement in the case or having in fact ever given any money to Ramirez. Her image continue to take a hit, primarily due to fears that the country would turn into a narco-state with her election, fears that were stoked by her rival PPK. At the same time, prosecutors announced they would be investigating suspicions of money laundering and other irregularities in Fujimori's campaign, which she dismissed as simply a smear campaign. In the final days before the vote, the leaders of the left, such as Mendoza, announced their support for PPK. According to analysts, this second march was decisive in those not yet decided showing support for the PPK. Due to the narrow margin involved, the national (and international, to a lesser degree) press only began to consider PPK as the new "virtual president" on 9 June, four days after the original vote. At that point, PPK had obtained 50.12% of the vote, compared with 49.88% for Fujimori. On 10 June, Fujimori admitted her defeat, saying that her party had a "vigilant" opposition and wishing the new president elect well. On the other hand, Fujimori also claimed that the PPK had won with the help of "promoters of hatred" and "the political, economic, and media power of the outgoing government." Kuczynski had won by a narrow margin of less than half a percentage point, and was sworn in as president on 28 July.
Post-campaign of 2016 and vice president
Martín Vizcarra in July 2017 After the 2016 elections, Fujimori continued to be the main leader of the opposition against PPK's government presiding over the parliamentary majority, while defending herself from accusations of having maintained a controversial relationship with the Odebrecht conglomerate. In December 2017, she supported the
first impeachment process against Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, though he pardoned her father Alberto Fujimori on 24 December 2017, three days after the impeachment process failed. Her brother, Kenji Fujimori, declared his opposition to such a move, which worsened a growing rift between the siblings over their father's legacy and control of the opposition. In March 2018, PPK resigned having been accused of buying votes against his impeachment. At the time, Kenji was recorded negotiating for votes in favor of PPK's acquittal, dubbed his
kenjivideos, in return for a pardon for his father, a deal which PPK ended up following through with. When she found out about the videos, Keiko, accused of being partly responsible for the leak of the recordings, condemned her brother's actions. Upon his expulsion from Congress in June 2018, Kenji responded, "Keiko, congratulations! Here you have my head on a platter." During the second round of elections in 2016, Kenji did not vote for his own sister because he refused to compromise on the freedom of their father or have a discourse on his errors. When he lost a challenge to become leader of Fuerza Popular, Kenji promised to run for president in 2021, something that his sister was also planning to do for the third time, this time in a new party that would split from Fuerza Popular along with other dissidents in the party. When PPK resigned on 23 March 2017, the presidency was passed to civil engineer
Martín Vizcarra, with Fujimori welcoming him and wished for his "success" through a tweet the same day. Nevertheless, she heavily criticized Vizcarra's
2018 Peruvian constitutional referendum since included on the ballot was whether citizens supported the re-election of congressmen and the return of a bicameral legislature. She claimed that the ballot items "are evidence of centrist populism", asked the president to "stop seeing congress members as your enemies", and was empowered to make as the parliamentary majority leader to attempt to defeat the measures through the referendum.
Arrest and temporary imprisonment On 10 October 2018, Fujimori was arrested and placed in provisional detention on charges of money laundering days after the
Supreme Court of Peru nullified the pardon of her father, ordering him back to prison. The arrest came at the request of the Public Ministry, who accused her of illegally receiving money from Odebrecht during her campaign in 2011 as part of the
Lava Jato corruption scandal. In response, Fujimori wrote, "this is what we call political persecution ... without evidence against me, I am deprived of liberty, but still with my head held high and my spirit intact." On 18 October, she was let go as her appeal was accepted by the National Audience. On 31 October, she was arrested again when she was again sentenced to 3 years of pretrial detention for money laundering and "a high risk of escaping", as per the decision by judge Richard Concepcion Carhuancho. Fujimori appealed yet again to be set free but the appeal was rejected by the Superior Court of Justice in January 2019. By August of that year, the Supreme Court, due to an impasse between its members, delayed their decision on her appeal. During the investigations, in September, the publication
La Republica revealed that Fujimori had used a pseudonym together with the rest of her party's leadership in a Telegram group chat called "Titanic Group" where she made the most important party decisions under the name
Ruth. By the beginning of December, Jose Camayo, a businessman investigated for the "White Collar Port" case involved with Fuerza Popular, declared before the Operation Car Wash Special Team that
Señora K, a person accused of corruption, was in fact Keiko Fujimori herself, something that was later denied by her, and yet still had a significant impact on the ongoing investigation. In January 2020, the tribunal decided, four votes to three, to grant her
habeas corpus on the grounds that the preventative detention sentence was invalid for its violation of her liberty. Shortly afterward, her husband Mark Vito began a hunger strike in a camp installed in front of the prison where she was detained. On 28 January, the judge Victor Zuniga Urday re-imposed a preventive prison for 15 months on the charges of money laundering from the Odebrecht company. On 30 April 2020, a Peruvian appeals court overturned her 15-month detention order and granted her a conditional release from prison. She was finally released on bail on 5 May 2020.
2021 general election After a few months out of the spotlight despite still leading her party, on 25 September 2020, she announced her total return to politics. A month later, 30 November, still under investigation by the Operation Car Wash team, she tweeted that she was officially announcing her candidacy as the Fuerza Popular's presidential candidate with her ballot partners ex-congressional president
Luis Galarreta as first vice president and the former lawyer and director of
National Solidarity, Patricia Juarez as second vice president. Fujimori's party helped lead the controversial
removal of Martín Vizcarra and his replacement by Manuel Merino, which resulted with the
2020 Peruvian protests. The protests were violently put down, resulting in the deaths of two college students among the protestors. Shortly after their deaths, Fujimori lamented what had happened and also considered the current situation as "unsustainable", calling for Merino to step down or else he "should be censured right here right now", a move she believed a majority of Congress would support. On 9 December, she won the internal party elections to become Fuerza Popular's candidate for the 2021 election. The campaign got off to a rocky start as on the same day as a victory, a poll by
Peru21 released a national
Datum poll which revealed that 63% of Peruvians said they would "never vote" for her. Then, on 21 December, the National Jury of Elections declared that Fuerza Popular's presidential board was "inadmissible" and gave them two days to follow their instructions. In the end, the board was finally revised and admitted. She has said that she wanted to be a president with a "heavy hand" and "authority", proposing increased legal protection on law enforcement. She has called for the construction of more prisons to reduce overcrowding and to offer more instances of probation for small crime offenders. She proposed a large stimulus to voters that would represent three percent of Peru's annual gross domestic product, possibly increasing the low national debt that exists in Peru. Following the first round election, Fujimori gave a speech in which she framed the runoff as a battle between "markets and Marxism", framing her second round opponent
Pedro Castillo as a communist.
Americas Society/
Council of the Americas wrote that a Fujimori presidency would bring the appearance of maintaining the
status quo in Peru, but it would make the nation "far from stable." According to
The Guardian, various international observers countered Fujimori's claims, stating that the election process was conducted in accordance with international standards, Fujimori's statements about possibly overturning the election were described as being inspired by the
attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election by 45th U.S. president
Donald Trump.
The Guardian also reported that analysts and political observers criticized Fujimori's remarks, noting that it made her appear desperate after losing her third presidential run in a ten-year period. In December 2021, prosecutor José Domingo Pérez reported that Fujimori received one million dollars from the Odebrecht Department of Structured Operations that was delivered through offshore intermediary accounts of Gonzalo Monteverde's company Construmaq. Domingo stated that he held 1,900 pieces of evidence to determine that a criminal group existed within Popular Force. At the time,
IDL-Reporteros reported that members of the
Constitutional Court of Peru were selected by Congress and began to support Fujimorists.'''''' After the constitutional court ordered the release of her father in December 2023, Alberto, speculations were made that he instead of his daughter, Keiko would run for President. Alberto later joined the Popular Force, and on 14 July 2024, Keiko announced his presidential candidacy despite his age, health, and legal impediments. Months after his release, Alberto died from health complications on 11 September 2024. After her father's death, Keiko was again speculated to stand in the 2026 presidential election. After a money-laundering case against Fujimori was dismissed by the constitutional court, Fujimori formally announced her presidential candidacy on 30 October 2025 together with Galarreta and former Congressman
Miki Torres as her running mates. == Public and political image ==