Keiko Fujimori seeks Peru presidency

Peruvians say you either love or hate Keiko Fujimori, daughter of their jailed former leader Alberto. Despite his dark legacy she too is now tipped to become president.

Smiling broadly in a white shirt, she dances for the crowds at election rallies. But it is her name that most grabs the attention in this South American nation.

She came of age during the violent period of her father's rule in the 1990s which destroyed his marriage to her mother and landed him in jail for crimes against humanity.

Keiko took over as first lady of the nation aged 19. She was elected to congress in 2006.

Now 40, the US-educated Keiko is, like her father, a divisive conservative figure. She leads the polls for the first round of presidential elections on Sunday.

Alberto Fujimori's dark decade in power from 1990-2000 lives in the memory of many Peruvians, but Keiko proudly wielded the family name as she launched herself into politics.

She misjudged voters' sensibilities when she pledged during the last election campaign in 2011 to pardon her father.

That made her lose the election to leftist Ollanta Humala.

This time she appeared on television making a solemn "pledge of honor" to safeguard human rights.

"I will not use political power to benefit my family," she said in an interview, with a cross hanging from a necklace at her chest.

She promised to ensure that "never again" would there be a repeat of the internal coup mounted by her father as president in 1992, when he dissolved congress.
"We want to put violence aside and start to look forward," she said, turning occasionally from the interviewer to speak directly to the camera. "I want to be the president of all Peruvians."

- Family name -

Keiko's mother Susana Higuchi accused Alberto's men of torturing her during his rule. She fled the presidential palace and filed for divorce in 1994.

Keiko sided with her father and has rejected her mother's claims as "myths."

Alberto Fujimori, now 77, is in jail for crimes against humanity for ordering the massacre of people he said were terrorists in 1991 and 1992.
Twenty five years on, some say his record means you can't trust a Fujimori.

"You either love Keiko or you hate her," said one voter in Lima, Diego Ramirez, 25, who works in a bank.

"I find it incredible that she could be president. Her father was corrupt and a killer. She didn't do anything as a congresswoman. All she has is her family name."

But Fujimori senior won the love of many for stamping out the Shining Path, a communist guerrilla group that carried out attacks and kidnappings.

Even though he was convicted for massacres and corruption, many voters harbor nostalgia for his rule and want Keiko to follow in his footsteps.
Humala has overseen a strong economic performance, but under him growth has only reached half the level it was at the height of the Fujimori boom.

"If Fujimori had continued as president the country would be in a better state now," said Felizardo Mogollon, a 58-year-old taxi driver in Lima.

"Keiko is a woman who will work for security, improve the economy even more and work more to get international companies to come to Peru."

- First female president? -

Recent opinion polls have indicated Keiko could top Sunday's first-round ballot with about a third of the vote. That would send it to a run-off in June.

Opponents tried to get her excluded from the election for alleged vote-buying, but the electoral board last week dismissed the case against her.

Her rival in a run-off could be business-friendly candidate Pedro Pablo Kuczynski or left-wing congresswoman Veronika Mendoza.

Kuczynski, a foreign-educated former prime minister and businessman, is polling in second place with Mendoza close behind.

Kuczynski has appeared on the campaign trail playing folk music on his flute and wearing a multicolored woolly hat to greet rural villagers.

Mendoza has promised to strengthen state control over the country's energy reserves and reform the tax system in favor of small companies.

If Mendoza wins through to a run-off against Fujimori, Peru would be certain to have its first female president.
SourcE: AFP