Autocrat’s daughter Keiko Fujimori on track to win Peru election

{"text":[[{"start":7.25,"text":"Keiko Fujimori, the market-friendly daughter of a former autocrat, is on course to win Peru’s deeply polarised presidential election, as her lead became insurmountable on Wednesday in a knife-edge vote count that her opponent has pledged to contest."}],[{"start":21.85,"text":"More than two weeks after the June 7 run-off vote, longtime lawmaker Fujimori holds a lead of some 43,000 votes — a 50.11 per cent share — over leftist rival Roberto Sánchez, according to electoral authorities. With only 40,000 votes still to count, her lead is unassailable."}],[{"start":40.6,"text":"A binding result is not expected until mid-July, after electoral judges have certified the result and legal challenges have been settled. Fujimori has pledged a tough line on crime while promoting foreign investment."}],[{"start":53.25,"text":"Sánchez, who wields significant support in rural and impoverished areas, said he would not recognise a Fujimori victory, alleging that vote tallies in Peru’s embassies had been mishandled. Fujimori won 65 per cent of the overseas vote, according to electoral authorities."}],[{"start":70.75,"text":"“We will not recognise that government and will declare a state of political and social struggle, a movement of popular and patriotic resistance,” Sánchez said on Tuesday."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":81.55,"text":"Fujimori, who lost in the run-off of the last three presidential elections, is set to become Peru’s ninth president in a decade, a reflection of the longstanding political turmoil in the world’s third-largest copper producer. "}],[{"start":95.2,"text":"It will also consolidate a rightward shift in Latin America, following conservative victories in Colombia, Chile and Honduras this year."}],[{"start":104.10000000000001,"text":"She has long faced pushback over the legacy of her late father Alberto, who ruled from 1990-2000 and named Keiko first lady as a teenager."}],[{"start":114.00000000000001,"text":"Alberto Fujimori dealt crushing blows against the leftist Shining Path insurgency, while taming hyperinflation and shepherding the passage of the country’s business-friendly constitution."}],[{"start":125.35000000000001,"text":"But where his supporters praised his firm hand during a time of existential crisis, his opponents regard him as a dictator responsible for widespread abuses. In 1992, he closed Congress with the military’s backing and ruled by decree, and oversaw the forced sterilisation of thousands of indigenous Peruvians. "}],[{"start":146.35000000000002,"text":"He was jailed for corruption and human rights abuses and died in 2024 after being released due to failing health. "}],[{"start":153.55,"text":"As a lawmaker, Keiko Fujimori helmed a coalition that has removed several leaders over the past decade, in a country where four former presidents are currently behind bars."}],[{"start":164.65,"text":"Her party, Popular Force, won the most seats in both houses of Congress during the first round of voting in April, though it lacks an outright majority in both. Sánchez’s Together for Peru came second."}],[{"start":176.4,"text":"Investors in Peru, a major exporter of metals and fruit, have largely supported Fujimori in the election."}],[{"start":182.70000000000002,"text":"On the campaign trail, Sánchez proposed rewriting the Fujimori-era constitution, expanding the state’s role in the mining sector and granting more power to provinces beyond Lima, the capital."}],[{"start":193.65,"text":"One of his central pledges was to pardon Pedro Castillo, the leftist former president who was impeached and jailed in 2022 after trying to close Congress and rule by decree, without the military’s crucial backing. A wave of violent unrest that followed paralysed rural provinces across the country, and 51 people were killed by the police."}],[{"start":223.3,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1782354852_4487.mp3"}