Roberto Sanchez challenges Fujimori's win in Peru

Supporters of left-wing presidential candidate Roberto Sanchez react as they gather after Sanchez took a slim lead over conservative Keiko Fujimori in Peru’s presidential race as official vote-counting continued into a second day. File picture.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The defeated left-wing candidate in Peru’s presidential election, Roberto Sanchez, said onWednesday (July 1 2026) that he will appeal the win of right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Mr. Sanchezalleges fraud in votes cast by Peruvians living abroad and filed an appeal two days after the election, according to a statement from his party, Together for Peru.

Peru’s electoral authority said this week that Ms. Fujimori was elected with 50.13% of the vote in the June 7 runoff, compared to Mr. Sanchez’s 49.86%.

A previous request from Mr. Sanchez to annul the overseas votes was rejected by the National Jury of Elections, which deemed his claims unfounded.

The left-wing candidate cast doubt on overseas votes because there was a “change of rules in the middle of the electoral process, preventing the digitalisationin the runoff of the tally sheets for votes cast abroad” at Peru’s consulates, the statement said.

The National Jury of Elections is expected to officially proclaim 51-year-old Fujimori as President-elect this week, before she takes office July 28 to replace Jose Maria Balcazar.

Her victory marks the return of the Ms. Fujimoriname to Peru’s presidency, more than two decades after her father, the late Alberto Fujimori, fled to Japan and resigned amid allegations of human rights violations and corruption.

Ms. Fujimori’s win is part of a wave of right-wing leaders who have recently won office in Latin America, some with the endorsement of U.S.President Donald Trump.