Former Peruvian presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori greets her supporters after voting in Lima April 10, 2016. Mariana Bazo (Portal)
“Critics say Keiko doesn’t even beat panettone. Well, if I don’t hit anyone, what problem am I positing? With these words, which allude to the cake of Italian origin usually eaten at Christmas, Keiko Fujimori announced his intention to run for the Peruvian presidency for the fourth consecutive year. On each of those occasions, he advanced to the second round, losing twice by just over 40,000 votes. In riding, you could say that Alberto Fujimori’s daughter always loses by a head; in athletics by thousandths; and with pastries, the bread usually burns in the oven door. In politics, her opponents prefer to say she’s a bad loser.
Keiko Fujimori has resurfaced after three setbacks: her split from American Mark Vito, the father of her two daughters; a visit to the surgeon to remove four benign tumors in her neck; and the court order preventing him from leaving the country for the next 36 months as he faces a hearing in the Cócteles case, accusing him of money laundering and running a criminal organization that would have received illegal donations from the Construction company. The Brazilian Odebrecht under the guise of his party Fuerza Popular. However, far from being a convalescent politician surrounded by justice, her return to the scene is that of a leader with a majority in Congress, in an unbanked administration and with disapproval exceeding 75%.
More than a week ago, the leader of Fuerza Popular took back the reins of her group and changed the plan to President Dina Boluarte: saying that “she has a triumphant attitude without self-criticism”, she criticized several of her ministers, with harsh qualifications and short he then claimed that the project to advance elections was still something “latent”. A direct attack on Boluarte, who in recent days has insisted on telling the population and his opponents that this issue is “closed” and that “it will continue until July 2026”.
It is the first confrontation between the two. In fact, Keiko Fujimori has supported Boluarte during her six-month tenure, particularly to defend her from the region’s presidents who have not recognized her inauguration and have criticized her way of handling the protests against her: Mexico’s Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Gustavo Petro from Colombia. Even implicitly, he acknowledged that there was no cheating in the 2021 general election, which saw Boluarte join Pedro Castillo’s board as first vice president. “I strongly support those who have legally and constitutionally achieved the presidency. That’s the role we all have as Peruvians,” Fujimori tweeted in the middle of last month. His recent statements about the executive show a shift in strategy in political chess.
President Dina Boluarte responded with a proposal that sounded like a challenge. “If Ms. Fujimori brought this up, I suggest her bank raise it again because as a manager we raised it twice and there it was (…) We would be happy to be there the next day if it.” would be approved.” “Parliament is calling for a general election,” he said with a fake smile. So far, Fujimori’s comments have led to a cabinet resignation: the resignation of Rosa Gutiérrez from the health ministry, who will go down in history with a broken promise that her sector would be able to bring dengue fever under control in two weeks. He said it in mid-May. So far, 161,000 infections and 287 deaths have been reported.
The reappearance of Keiko Fujimori has also brought a turn in Fuerza Popular’s slogans. The Orange Party revived discussion about the benefits of a bicameral Congress and campaigned for plenary approval to avoid a citizens’ referendum. Two weeks ago they were just one vote away – they needed 87 votes – and everything was put on hold again. While Hernando Nano Guerra García, spokesman for the group, defended the importance of a Senate, Fujimori told the media the opposite: “This horrible picture.” [del Congreso en las encuestas] It should get all factions to consider whether this is the right time and whether this Congress has the legitimacy to create an additional House of Representatives. I don’t think so.” The second regular term of the 2022-2023 annual session ended this week with no news on the matter after Fujimori gave his thumbs-up.
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On the possibility of it again presenting itself as Fuerza Popular’s big card in the next general election, former President Martín Vizcarra sardonically said that even if nominated alone, he would remain in second place. “The white, invalid, erroneous votes will win, those who don’t go will win.” For his part, the journalist César Hildebrandt has predicted an “electoral funeral”. “This time the rigor mortis could be final. After four condolences there is no return, there is no vampire who can take four stakes. For the director of the weekly Hildebrandt en sus Trece, his announcement could be an attempt to show a more appropriate presence in the Cocktails case trial. “The lady wants to sit on the bench with the halo of a party leader and not as what she really is: the head of a criminal organization with strong parliamentary representation.”
The return of the person who succeeded her mother as First Lady of Peru in the 1990s also comes with a work under her arm: Keiko Fujimori is writing her first book. An expected amount of memories at age 48. “One of the things I had to do was tell about my life, my sufferings, but also the positive. I want to leave a legacy,” says the politician, who is heading towards her fourth postulate. No one will be able to say they haven’t tried.
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