This year, Keiko has again leaned into her father’s memory, casting herself as the only candidate who can guarantee stability.

“Either we do something now to fix our country, or we repeat the same recipe that already failed,” Keiko said at the May 31 presidential debate. “Order or chaos. These are the two options our country faces today.”

Once dogged by questions about supporting her father, Keiko now has a controversial record of her own to defend.

She has been put in pre-trial detention three times over a money-laundering investigation, though a court last year tossed the case, deeming it to be “flawed”.

After her 2021 election defeat, she also spent weeks trying to overturn the results by making baseless claims of electoral fraud.

She has repeatedly used her party to wield the threat of impeachment in Congress, contributing to the political clashes that have given Peru nine presidents in the past decade.

Her critics say she is a sore loser, obsessed with control. Sanchez, her run-off opponent, calls her “Mrs Kaos”. He has accused her of abusing her power to pursue personal vendettas.

“Don’t you realise the damage you’ve done to democracy? Impeachment, impeachment, impeachment, impeachment,” Sanchez told Keiko at the debate. “Instead of seeking development and stability, chaos and disorder has reigned.”

But this election cycle, Keiko is no longer the only candidate on the ballot carrying the baggage of questionable political associations.

In 2022, leftist President Pedro Castillo attempted a self-coup ahead of an impeachment vote. He announced he would dissolve Congress, seize the courts and rule by decree.

For many Peruvians, the televised speech was eerily reminiscent of Alberto Fujimori’s own self-coup in 1992, which suspended Peru’s democracy as he consolidated power.

Except, in Castillo’s case, he lacked the broad military support Fujimori enjoyed. Castillo was arrested and impeached within hours.

Sanchez, Castillo’s former trade and tourism minister, initially condemned the attempted power grab. He has also denied advance knowledge of it.

But he now claims Castillo is a victim of political persecution and has promised to pardon him, inviting several of his family members to run for Congress with his party.

Ahead of the first round of voting, Sanchez also struck an alliance with Antauro Humala, a homophobic ethnic nationalist and former army officer known for wanting to execute former presidents — including his brother, Ollanta Humala.

Sanchez has since distanced himself from Antauro, though.