Keiko Fujimori - Political Career

Political Career

Keiko Fujimori participated in several international assemblies, such as the Summit of Spouses of Heads of States and Government of the Americas in Canada and Chile, and the Cumbre Regional para la Infancia (Regional Summit for Infancy) in Colombia. She also sought international support to develop more social programs.

After her father's resignation, Keiko stayed in Peru until 2004 when she pursued an MBA at Columbia Business School. In 2004, Fujimori married Mark Villanella, a United States citizen who also acquired Peruvian citizenship in 2009. In 2005, Keiko interrupted her studies and returned to Peru after an extradition process was initiated on her father. She became the leader of the Fujimorista Political Group and announced her father's candidacy in the April 2006 Peruvian presidential election, though he was forbidden to participate in any political activity until 2011 under a congressional ban. In April 2006, while her father was detained in neighboring Chile, Fujimori was elected to the Peruvian Congress with more votes than any winning candidate.

As a congresswoman and leader of her political party, Fujimori defended the reforms executed by her father during the 1990s. She has led the opposition to the government of Alan García. She authored a law that restricts penitentiary benefits for those who commit serious offenses, and another law that obligates judges to give the highest sanctions to repeat offenders. Similarly, she passed a law that reduces the jail benefits to those who are protected under the "sincere confession" provision. Along with the Fujimorista Congress members, she worked on a project law in which the death penalty would also be applicable to some of the most severe crimes.