Peruvians will choose on Sunday their ninth president in 10 years, in a tight runoff election between conservative Keiko Fujimori and leftist Roberto Sanchez who are trying to woo voters fed up with political chaos and rising crime.

Fujimori, daughter of former autocratic president Alberto Fujimori, is making her fourth bid for the presidency.

Sanchez, a psychologist, surged late in the race to reach the runoff and is now tied in the polls with Fujimori.

Around 27 million voters can cast ballots to choose a president for a five-year term.

“There is a lot of disorder and corruption, and we’re going to vote, as always, for the ‘lesser evil’,” Hugo Vasquez, a 67-year-old crafts seller in Lima, told AFP.

The two candidates’ combined vote totals failed to reach 30 percent in the April first round, which was marred by logistical problems and fraud allegations that deepened distrust in Peru‘s creaking institutions.

“Anti-Fujimori sentiment is still strong, though weaker; and Sanchez, little-known, is an unknown quantity,” said analyst David Sulmont.

Read more“Fujimori never again!” Protesters fill streets of Lima ahead of Peru presidential elections

“Whoever wins will face questions of legitimacy if the result is close. That means more instability.”

Fujimori, 51, appeals to the mixed legacy of her father, who stabilized the economy and defeated a Maoist insurgency, but was accused of crimes against humanity.

“I believe Peruvians want a Fujimori,” she told AFP. “Here I am.”

Sanchez, a 57-year-old congressman and former minister, draws on the rural background of his mentor, former president Pedro Castillo, a schoolteacher jailed after a failed palace coup in 2022.

‘Communism’ or ‘dictatorship’

Fujimori promises prosperity and warns of the dangers of “communism.”

“This election is between order and regression,” she has said.

“I prefer the right. I’m afraid Peru could become like Cuba or Venezuela,” said 64-year-old shopkeeper Benilda Trujillo.

Sanchez, meanwhile, has moderated his earlier call for “radical change” and distanced himself from ultranationalists.

He told AFP he wants a “respectful” relationship with US President Donald Trump.

“If Keiko wins she won’t leave power. I’m from the provinces and hope Sanchez looks out for the people,” said Roxana Montes, a 28-year-old street vendor.

Sanchez, who always wears the broad-brimmed palm straw hat gifted to him by Castillo – whom he plans to pardon – accuses his rival of being part of a “dictatorship” led by the powerful Congress that counts several former presidents among its members.

On the eve of the vote a judge said Sanchez must stand trial over past financial irregularities in his party.

If he wins, he would have presidential immunity, though remain vulnerable in a right-leaning parliament.

Neither Sanchez nor Fujimori has a legislative majority. Whoever wins must build alliances to complete their term, according to analyst Jeffrey Radzinsky.

The winner will replace interim president Jose Maria Balcazar from July 28.

Killings and extortion

Despite political disillusionment, Peruvians’ main concern is security, as criminal gangs spread and extortion complaints spiked ninefold in five years.

Fujimori proposes a hard-line approach: militarizing prisons and troubled areas, and expelling migrants to eliminate “social scourge” with the “same force,” she says, used by her father against insurgents in the 1990s.

“They kill, dismember, demand protection money. Enough!” said 58-year-old taxi driver Roberto Lovaton.

Sanchez proposes tackling corruption in the police and judiciary, which he says are complicit with criminal networks.

His support base lies in poorer rural areas, where insecurity is lower. Fujimori’s base is in Lima, where the homicide rate tripled in five years.

The winner will inherit a stable economy, with GDP growth of over three percent and low inflation.

However, seven out of 10 workers are in the informal economy.

Fujimori supports neoliberal policies, property rights and attracting US investment.

Sanchez has promised wage increases and sought to reassure investors by pledging to maintain an open economy and central bank independence, key to economic stability.

Voting will open at 7:00 am local time (1200 GMT) and close ten hours later.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)