Keiko Fujimori was sworn in as Peru's president on July 28 before the country's Congress in Lima, with King Felipe VI in attendance. The 51-year-old leader of Popular Force becomes the nation's first female president elected by popular vote, returning Fujimorism to power after 26 years. Fujimori takes office after 15 years of failed attempts and four presidential campaigns.
Fujimori's victory in the June runoff election was extremely narrow, with only 50,000 votes separating her from left-wing rival Roberto Sanchez. She becomes the ninth chief executive in ten years, taking on one of Latin America's most perilous political jobs. In a decade marked by political instability and weak economic growth, every Peruvian leader since the 1990s has been impeached, imprisoned, or targeted in criminal investigations.
The conservative president, daughter of the late former President Alberto Fujimori, has pledged to fight crime with an "iron fist" as Peru faces its worst security crisis in decades. To address this, she has proposed expelling undocumented people, establishing courts with anonymous judges, and requiring prisoners to work for their food. While Fujimori aims to tackle the security crisis and name her cabinet, critics fear a return to her father's tactics.