Peru: A Close Win for Continuity

Issue Date October 2016
Volume 27
Issue 4
Page Numbers 145-58
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The April 2016 Peruvian election saw the triumph of former finance minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (PPK) in the close runoff against Keiko Fujimori, daughter of authoritarian president Alberto Fujimori (1990–2000). This election raises interesting questions for students of democracy that we aim to answer in this article: What explains the strength and endurance of fujimorismo sixteen years after the collapse of this competitive authoritarian regime? Why did so many Peruvians support the daughter of a former dictator? Who makes up the anti-fujimorista coalition? Finally, given the fujimorista majority in Congress, how will Peru be governed in the upcoming term?

About the Authors

Eduardo Dargent

Eduardo Dargent is professor of political science at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima and the author of Technocracy and Democracy in Latin America (2016).

View all work by Eduardo Dargent

Paula Muñoz

Paula Muñoz is associate professor of social and political sciences at the Universidad del Pacífico in Lima.

View all work by Paula Muñoz