Peruvians will go to the polls on April 12 to elect a new president and members of Congress, following years of political upheaval, impeachments and corruption scandals that have seen eight presidents since 2018. A record number of candidates will compete in the first round. If no candidate clears the 50% threshold needed to win outright, the two most-voted candidates would advance to a second round, scheduled for June 7. Opinion polls indicate a runoff is likely, with at least five of the 35 presidential hopefuls in with a chance of claiming one of the two spots. Here’s a summary of the top contenders:
Conservative Keiko Fujimori, 50, is making her fourth bid for the presidency, having reached the runoff in all three of her previous campaigns - a record that underscores both her resilience and her polarizing grip on Peruvian politics. A former congresswoman, she leads the conservative People’s Force party and is the eldest daughter of late former President Alberto Fujimori, who ruled from 1990 to 2000 before being jailed for human rights abuses.
Fujimori’s party plays a pivotal role in Congress, anchoring a right-wing bloc and giving her an advantage in a fragmented field. Opinion polls consistently place her among the leading contenders. She had previously faced accusations of illegal campaign financing, but Peru’s constitutional court dismissed the case last year on procedural grounds.
Educated in the United States, Fujimori has positioned herself as pro-US, pitching foreign investment under clearer institutional rules and casting herself as a more reliable partner for Washington than rivals she describes as closer to Beijing. Her campaign leans heavily on a law-and-order message, echoing the militarized security policies associated with her father’s presidency in the 1990s.
Rafael Lopez Aliaga, 65, an ultraconservative businessman from the Popular Renewal party and a former mayor of Lima, is one of the most recognizable figures in the race, though recent opinion polls show his support slipping. A former Citibank corporate banker, he built his fortune in hotels and railways and has spent years cultivating a hardline political brand. A former member of the Catholic group Opus Dei, he is unmarried and has previously said he has practiced celibacy since the age of 19.
Lopez Aliaga has business ties to Peru’s mining sector and his railway investments have benefited from minerals like copper transported from the Las Bambas copper mine, operated by a Chinese firm.
Carlos Alvarez, 62, is a well-known figure in Peru, a popular comedian who has railed against the political class and is seeking to tap voter frustration with the establishment. Running for the centre-right Country for All party on a populist, anti-crime platform, he has likened himself to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, pointing to his own transition from entertainment to politics. Surveys show a recent uptick in voter support.
His platform includes support for capital punishment for certain crimes and greater use of the armed forces to confront rising insecurity. On foreign policy, Alvarez has welcomed US President Donald Trump’s renewed focus on Latin America, while acknowledging the economic importance of Chinese investment in Peru. Critics have questioned the depth of his policy agenda and strength of his technical team should he make it into government.
Alfonso Lopez Chau, 75, is an economist and academic from the left-of-centre Now Nation party. A former central bank board member, he has allied with a Marxist running mate who has called for reforms to Peru’s market-oriented economic model.
A former defence and culture minister under ex-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Jorge Nieto, 74, is a low-polling centrist who has pitched himself as a unifying figure with institutional experience. He resigned in protest when Kuczynski pardoned Alberto Fujimori. He has said little about foreign policy.
A congressman running for the left-leaning Together for Peru party, Roberto Sanchez has been drawing attention as a potential wild-card in the fractured race. He is calling for a new constitution to establish a “plurinational” state that would give a greater voice to Indigenous communities, tapping long-standing grievances in regions that have felt excluded from national decision-making.