Peru Holds Its Breath as Fujimori Takes the Lead in One of the Country's Closest Elections

President Donald Trump has yet to make a congratulatory call or issue a statement about Keiko Fujimori following her apparent victory in Peru's closely watched presidential race last week.

Fujimori's election appears to be one of the closest presidential contests in modern history, with a margin of less than 0.01% separating her from her opponent, Roberto Sanchez.

The daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori led Sanchez by roughly 1,500 votes out of more than 18 million cast.

As of Sunday, about 98.5% of votes had been counted, and the remaining ballots were from Lima and Peruvians living abroad - both considered Fujimori strongholds.

Ironically, following three previous narrow presidential defeats, Fujimori alleged that leftist governments had interfered to deny her victory.

This year, Sanchez demanded a recount, alleging fraudulent ballots were responsible for his razor-thin loss.

There is no provision for a recount in Peru, and Foreign Minister Carlos Pareja said Thursday there were no irregularities in overseas voting.

On Friday, Peru's election panel rejected requests from Sanchez to invalidate results from about 1,750 polling stations in Lima because his campaign had not completed the required paperwork.

The final count is expected to be certified by July 15 and the new president sworn in July 28.

Most Peruvians who spoke with Newsmax said Fujimori's three previous defeats were due to lingering controversy surrounding her father, who was removed from power in 2000 and died under house arrest in 2024 at age 86.

For her part, Keiko did not declare victory and urged supporters not to hold celebrations until the official count was finalized.

The future of her administration remains uncertain, as her party holds a minority in the congress.

"That's certainly a challenging starting point, but it's not mission impossible," Swiss political scientist Louis Perron told Newsmax.

"She has to reach out to opponents in a meaningful way, like it used to be done when compromise was not seen as treason."