Former candidate Keiko Fujimori, during a statement to the press in which she announced that she will recognize the result of Peru's presidential elections, in Lima, on Monday (19) Reuters/Sebastian Castaneda For the fourth time, Keiko Fujimori ran for President of Peru — and, for the fourth time, she finished in second place. Each time, their defeats came by the smallest of margins. The conservative, who finished the first round in the lead, with 17.17% of the votes, is the daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori, who spent 16 years in prison for human rights violations committed during his government. The former president died in 2024, at the age of 86. Keiko ran for the first time in 2011, when she was defeated in the second round by leftist Ollanta Humala. He received 48.55% of the votes. In the following elections, in 2016, he came even closer: he lost with 49.88% of the votes to Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. Five years later, in 2021, she was defeated by Pedro Castillo by a similar margin, with 49.87% of the votes. In previous campaigns, he sought to move away from his father's image. This time, however, she highlighted public policies adopted during his government. A new Keiko Conservative candidate for President of Peru, Keiko Fujimori, on May 17, 2026 REUTERS/Alessandro Cinque At 51 years old, Keiko Fujimori has been in politics since she was a teenager. Graduated in business administration in the United States, she was elected to Congress in 2006 with the highest vote ever recorded for a Peruvian parliamentarian. ✅ Follow the g1 international news channel on WhatsApp Like much of the country's political class, she also spent years under investigation for alleged irregular campaign financing. The case was dropped last year. Between 2018 and 2020, she was detained twice in pre-trial detention and spent almost a year and a half in jail. In the most recent campaign, Keiko presented herself as the candidate most capable of restoring order and stability in Peru. She also explored the context of violence experienced by the country, marked by an increase in homicides and extortion. Voters' concerns about security created a kind of nostalgia for Alberto Fujimori's style of government: in the 1990s, he defeated guerrillas from the Sendero Luminoso group with support from the Armed Forces. In this wave, Keiko promised strict security measures, tougher anti-terrorism laws and an expanded role for the military in combating violence. The tougher speech and alignment with some of his father's ideas were seen as the emergence of a "new Keiko". Still, the party made a point of differentiating her from Fujimori, presenting her as a more democratic candidate than her father, who staged a self-coup after being elected president.