Peru: Fujimori to face her first political challenge

PERU - In Brief 31 Aug 2026 by Alfredo Thorne

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Last Friday, the Fujimori government approved at its Cabinet meeting the delegated legislative faculties request from Congress and the 2027 budget. Both have to be approved by Congress' lower house, where Fujimori's political party, Fuerza Popular (FP), has a minority. According to the latest estimates, the opposition has 74 of 130 deputies and the right-wing coalition only 56. Fujimori, like most governments since 1980, is requesting Congress' lower house delegated faculties for 120 days to legislate on some key topics: internal security, employment promotion, prevention against natural disasters, structural reforms, and modernization of the State. In addition, the government submitted its 2027 budget draft Law. The legislative faculties may be Fujimori’s first and most important challenge, while the budget poses another set of risks. With the new bicameral Congress, the faculties have to first be analyzed by the Lower House, where Juntos por el Peru—the radical left-wing party headed by Roberto Sanchez, the losing presidential candidate—has control of the key commissions that will analyze the request. There are three options: that Lower House approves the request without changes; they limit the request; or they reject the request altogether. Given that there is a new bi-cameral Congress, if the opposition opts for either of the two first options, that would be a win-win outcome for the government. That is because the FP controls the Constitution Commission in the Senate, allowing it to reinstate any changes made by the Lower House. However, if the opposition goes for the third option, it could ignite political brinkmanship similar to the situation in 2016. We believe...