With rising crime on their minds, Peruvians to vote for president yet again

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LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvians choose between two presidential hopefuls with starkly different views Sunday, as they elect their ninth head of state in 10 years amid growing concerns about crime.

Keiko Fujimori, a conservative and daughter of a disgraced former president, and Roberto Sánchez, a nationalist congressman, are on the ballot after beating 33 other candidates in the first round in April, but neither earned even 20% of support. Pollsters estimate that roughly 30% of voters remain undecided.

Sunday’s results are expected to be tight, and if the earlier vote was any indication, the outcome may not be known for days. Electoral authorities took more than a month to officially declare Fujimori and Sánchez the winners of that vote.

Voting is mandatory for Peruvians from the ages of 18 to 70. More than 27 million people are registered, and of those, about 1.2 million are expected to cast ballots from abroad, mainly in the United States and Argentina.

Official results from April’s election showed Fujimori obtained 17% of the vote, while Sánchez garnered 12%. More than six weeks later, a nationwide poll conducted by the firm Ipsos found that similar shares of voters were supporting Fujimori and Sánchez, with about 3 in 10 saying they were undecided.

Fujimori is linked to the authoritarian and corrupt legacy of the government of her late father, Alberto Fujimori, in the 1990s. She became Peru's first lady in 1994 after her parents’ separation.

Sánchez is one of the closest allies of jailed former President Pedro Castillo, whom many perceive as corrupt and chaotic. Castillo’s 16-month term saw more than 70 Cabinet changes.

Surging crime, particularly extortion, remains the overarching concern. A 2025 national survey carried out by the state’s National Institute of Statistics and Informatics found that 84% of respondents in urban areas feared becoming victims of a crime in the following 12 months.

Experts attribute the increasing power of organized crime in Peru to the profits that decades-old criminal groups are earning from illegal gold mining in the Andes and the Amazon.

For most of her fourth presidential campaign, Fujimori promised to crack down on crime. Her proposals include implementing technology to track extortions, militarizing borders and increasing the presence of police and military personnel in high-risk areas. Fujimori, 51, has also said that prisoners will be required to work and “repay society.”

In the only debate prior to the runoff, Fujimori defended her father’s government and promised to defeat crime just as he defeated the Shining Path, a violent extremist group. She told voters that should she win, they will be able to leave their homes and return without having become victims of a crime.

Meanwhile, Sánchez, a former minister now popular with rural voters, has pledged to combat corruption within the police force and promote reforms that would enable the military to support security efforts.

The 57-year-old, who wears a wide-brimmed peasant hat gifted by Castillo, told debate viewers that he would be open to “all options to generate jobs and progress” but also emphasized his support for Chinese investments.

He also has tried to ease the concerns his candidacy is generating among investors, saying he will not nationalize any assets of transnational companies that extract minerals or gas from Peru.

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Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City.