‘Stunning defeat’: Fujimori’s ghost fades in Peru after legislative gamble

LIMA, (Reuters) - Peruvian President Martin Vizcarra took a gamble last year when he shuttered Congress after a bruising battle over a corruption crackdown with opposition lawmakers allied to the powerful Fujimori political dynasty.

The gamble paid off. Vizcarra has emerged as the showdown’s survivor and has dealt his political nemesis a blow not seen in 20 years, when Alberto Fujimori resigned the presidency via fax from Japan amid a ballooning graft scandal.

In legislative elections on Sunday, Popular Force, the party of Fujimori and his daughter, Keiko Fujimori, which had held an unbreakable majority, gained an estimated 12 seats in the 130-seat chamber - down from 73.

“It is a stunning defeat,” said Fernando Tuesta, a political scientist at Peru’s Catholic University.

The blow puts in doubt the future of a political movement that has shaped almost every aspect of Peruvian life and the country’s economy for 30 years, even as the copper-rich country prepares for next year’s presidential election.

But while Vizcarra has rid himself of a key rival, he remains a lone wolf in a fractured Congress where he has no direct party representation. He has a package of reforms on the table — from how top judges are elected to stripping lawmakers of immunity against criminal investigations — but it is unclear how much support he will be able to rack up.

Inside Popular Force, the party leadership tried to portray the election result as just another cycle against its movement, and pledged to bounce back.

“Any other party that faced the persecution we have faced would have disappeared,” Luis Galarreta, Popular Force’s secretary general and a former president of Congress, told Reuters in an interview. “This is not the first time that our party goes through a difficult situation.”