Keiko Fujimori – the daughter of jailed former President Alberto Fujimori – has announced that her father’s political party – now known as “Fuerza 2011” – does not plan to make any alliances for the upcoming 2011 presidential elections.
“For the time being, we’ve decided to run this race solo,” said Keiko Fujimori in comments to daily El Comercio. “When the second round comes, then we’ll consider the possibility of establishing dialogue,” adding that, “Our decision is based on the strong support Peruvians have already expressed.”
According to the Lima-based polling firm Ipsos & Apoyo, 20 percent of respondents are expected to vote for Keiko Fujimori in the next ballot, down two points since January. Luis Castañeda Lossio – currently the mayor of Lima – came in a close second, with 18 percent, followed by Ollanta Humala, with 14 percent. The poll was based on a July 15-17 survey of 1,000 Peruvians, and has a margin of error of 3 percent.
This week, Lourdes Flores – the head of centre-right Unidad Nacional and former presidential candidate – called on all center right parties to form a “democratic front” against “anti-establishment” options, such as Keiko Fujimori and the leader of Peru’s Nationalist Party, Ollanta Humala.
Keiko Fujimori, a 33-year old business administrator and probable candidate for Fujimori’s right-wing party “Fuerza 2011,” was still a college student at Boston University when her father locked her mother out of the presidential palace in response to her going public with corruption allegations against his government. He asked his oldest daughter to return to Peru to serve as first lady, which she did for four years until he fled the country and his government crumbled amid massive corruption scandals in November 2000.
In 2006, while her father was fighting extradition back to Peru from Chile, Keiko Fujimori was elected to Congress with the highest vote total of any candidate. She has repeatedly declared that her father, who was found guilty last week of corruption and bribery and sentenced last April to 25 years in jail for sanctioning a paramilitary death squad, has done nothing but promote peace and democracy, defeat terrorism and restore Peru’s economy. She has also promised to pardon him, if she is elected in 2011.
