One week before the second round of the Peruvian presidential elections, its protagonists, Keiko Fujimori (Fuerza Popular) and Roberto Sánchez (Juntos por el Perú), starred in their last debate on Sunday night.
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In a final face-to-face before the runoff on June 7, organized by the National Jury of Elections (JNE), which served for the candidates to confront their views on security, human rights, education, health, and economy, as well as exchange accusations and offer promises to the electorate.
The debate, held at the Lima Convention Center, focused on four topics: citizen security, strengthening the democratic state and human rights, health and education; and economy, employment, and poverty eradication.
But first, each showed the key positions of their candidacies, with Fujimori stating that Peru faces a choice between order and chaos, for which her team has the capacity to lead the country towards stability. Sánchez, meanwhile, highlighted the need for democracy and opportunities for all, as reported by Infobae, criticizing the congressional past of Fujimorism.
After this presentation, the candidates fully engaged with the night’s topics, focusing on citizen security, with the Fuerza Popular representative proposing a “National Pacification Plan,” along with the use of the Armed Forces at the borders and mandatory work for prisoners.
For his part, the candidate of Juntos por el Perú took advantage of attacking his opponent, blaming Fujimorism and the Congress for laws that considered to favor criminality. He also proposed the need to clean and professionalize the National Police, at which point he called for “civil death for corrupt officials,” who according to him, “have corroded justice,” reported RTVE.
Then, in the block on strengthening the democratic state and human rights, Sánchez advocated for the referendum and decentralization, while Fujimori promised infrastructure works, such as roads to guarantee human rights.
In the education and health segment, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori focused her speech on measures to universalize the right to water and improve communication routes. For his part, the ally of leftist president Pedro Castillo pointed to the importance of increasing the budget for scholarships and criticized that the Congress led by Fujimorism prioritized other expenses over education.
This was followed by their proposals in the section on economy, employment, and poverty reduction, where Sánchez advocated investing in the Juntos Program and insisted on the need to industrialize the country. Meanwhile, Fujimori defended zero taxation for mypes – micro and small enterprises – and access to soft loans, pointing out that “poverty is not reduced with discourse, but with employment”.
To conclude, the debate allowed the runoff candidates to present their closing messages, at which point Roberto Sánchez emphasized the need to defeat Fujimorism (“recover the order of truth, not the ‘Kaos’ of Mrs. K”) and committed not to fail the people, as well as calling to transform the country with justice and equity.
Meanwhile, Keiko Fujimori acknowledged mistakes in her political career, asked for the opportunity to govern to carry out works, and called for the unity of Peruvians to achieve a better future, highlighting her experience and her technical team.
“I do not ask you to leave our differences behind, but that, despite them, we can bet for building together for a better Peru”, she said.
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