Lima.-Neoliberal candidate Keiko Fujimori, who won the first round of the presidential elections in Peru on April 10 with a wide majority, according to an unofficial quick count of ballots, told her supporters that the result establishes her party as the leading political force in the country.
The Popular Force party leader read a statement out at a press conference before addressing a rally of hundreds of supporters gathered in front of the luxury hotel where she had established her campaign headquarters in await of the results.
During her speech, she thanked those who had voted for her and said she would honor the great responsibility that would come with a triumph in the second round. Her possible rivals are the neoliberal Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and the progressive candidate Veronika Mendoza.
She added that this victory, together with the party winning almost half of the seats in Congress, “clearly shows Peruvians want reconciliation and don’t want to fight anymore.”
She thus alluded to an issue that will be present in the second round; the rejection of her candidacy by broad sectors that identify her with the authoritarian rule of her father, Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000), which she has sought to distance herself from with a signed commitment to respect democracy and human rights.
Fujimori claimed her party represents the voice of Peruvians who demand a state presence, and vowed to “step on the accelerator of growth” for the benefit of remote populations and to improve educational opportunities.
She ratified an essential aspect of her campaign - which in this case evokes the image of her father - promising to restore peace and security to the country, while she condemned an ambush of a military patrol which left seven dead by remnants of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) armed group in the central region of Junín, for which she laid blame on the current government.
Fujimori committed to working toward the future and called for serious proposals and ideas in the lead up to the second round on June 5, urging the population to vote “for change and for the future.”
