Peru’s Upcoming President Confronts Extortion, Illegal Mining, and Congressional Opposition

Conservative hardliner Keiko Fujimori is poised to become Peru’s next president, following a chaotic and divisive election that has underscored the challenges she faces in taming a longstanding political crisis that has enabled the spread of organized crime.

Fujimori, making her fourth bid for the presidency, built an unassailable lead on June 23 after Peru’s deadlocked presidential runoff stretched into a third week of counting.

With 99.86% of votes tallied, Fujimori held 50.12% of the vote against 49.8% for leftist Roberto Sánchez Palomino, with the remaining votes insufficient to turn the tide.

Although Fujimori has refrained from declaring victory—Peru’s election authorities are expected to announce a winner in mid-July—she is set to take office on July 28 amid political and security turmoil.

The past decade has seen a string of corruption scandals and presidential impeachments preventing Peru from forming a stable government. The country has cycled through eight presidents in as many years, paralyzing state responses to a nationwide surge in homicides fueled by extortion and other crime.

Many voters hoped the elections would put an end to the turbulence, but the tight results and severe delays have instead reinforced existing political divisions, raising fresh questions about the next government’s ability to confront the country’s mounting security challenges.

Losing candidate Sánchez Palomino has denounced the results as fraudulent. He warned he will not recognize Fujimori’s government and plans to declare a state of political and social resistance, heightening concerns about post-electoral stability.

Fujimori has pledged to restore law and order by emulating the tough-on-crime policies of her father, the polarizing former president Alberto Fujimori, who was convicted of crimes against humanity over his administration’s crackdown on insurgent groups in the 1990s. But achieving this goal will require her to stabilize a listing government while also avoiding the fate of her predecessors, many of whom were impeached by a capricious Congress with ties to corruption.

Below, InSight Crime analyzes some of the main security challenges facing Peru’s next president.

Extortion: A Priority

Fujimori faces the pressing task of curbing an extortion epidemic that has become the main security threat in Peru’s major cities, particularly in the capital city Lima.

Extortion is nothing new in Peru, but its rapid proliferation and increasingly violent enforcement have driven a nationwide surge in homicides this decade. Gangs have also targeted victims previously immune from criminal shakedowns, including schools, heightening perceptions of insecurity in marginalized communities.

Rampant crime has also put a dent in Peruvians’ wallets, with 45% of the population having witnessed businesses closing or operating under restrictions because of insecurity in 2026, according to an IPSOS survey.

Peru’s Illegal Mining Boom

Fujimori must also confront a surge in illegal gold mining, fueled by soaring gold prices. Profits from illegal mining, now estimated to be more lucrative than cocaine trafficking in Peru, have allowed criminal networks to grow in sophistication and reach.

Competition for control of mining zones has become more violent, underscored by cases of massacres and hired assassinations. The illegal gold trade has also spawned predatory side hustles, like extortion and human trafficking, eroding security among communities where miners operate.

There are also growing concerns surrounding the use of illegal gold funds to bribe members of Congress to secure legal protection. Peruvian lawmakers, including members of Fujimori’s party, have repeatedly extended a controversial program called the Integral Register of Mining Formalization (Registro Integral de Formalización Minera – REINFO). Designed to transition informal miners into legality, REINFO has instead provided cover for criminal groups that use the registry to run unregulated mining fronts.

Fujimori, who during the campaign courted legal mining companies by promising to eliminate REINFO and replace it with a new formalization process, may find her plans scuppered by opposition in a fragmented Congress where she does not enjoy a majority.

She has also pledged to establish joint policy-military-customs commands in pivotal mining zones, an ambition likely to antagonize a politically influential sector capable of staging nationwide roadblocks to exert political demands.

Coexisting with Congress

Fujimori’s goal of restoring law and order will also hinge on whether she can steady a volatile political system increasingly vulnerable to criminal infiltration.

With none of Peru’s last eight presidents finishing their terms—many impeached by Congress—sustaining a coherent anti-crime strategy has become impossible.

Congress has also passed laws that weaken government efforts to combat organized crime while habitually impeaching presidents that fall out of favor.

This leaves Fujimori in a difficult position, as she is starting from a position of deep institutional dysfunction. She is also in a political bind: Congress could block parts of her anti-crime agenda while also holding her responsible—and potentially moving to impeach her—if she fails to deliver results.

Featured image: Presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori of the Popular Force party addresses supporters during a closing campaign rally in Lima, Peru, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. Credit: AP/Rodrigo Abd

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