Fujimori loses election bid in Japan

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The Lima daily La República labeled Sunday’s Japanese election results a ``humiliating defeat’’ for ex-President Alberto Fujimori.

The self-designated ``last samurai,’’ free on bail in neighboring Chile pending an extradition request from Peru, failed in his absentee bid to win a Senate seat in far-off Japan. Fujimori, the son of Japanese immigrants to Peru, holds Japanese and Peruvian citizenship.

``I couldn’t conduct my campaign and that resulted in a lamentable ending,’’ Fujimori told Japanese reporters in Santiago.

The long-distance senate campaign was widely seen among critics a ploy for Fujimori to gain diplomatic immunity and thus sidestep extradition back to Peru, where he is wanted for human rights and corruption counts arising from his tumultuous presidency (1990-2000). Fujimori fled to Japan after being implicated in a bribery scandal, but he has denied any wrongdoing.

In 2005, Fujimori traveled to Chile in the quixotic hope of launching a new political career in Peru. That move backfired: Fujimori was arrested in Santiago at the behest of Peruvian authorities.

A Chilean judge ruled this month that Lima had provided insufficient evidence to justify extradition. But Peru’s government is appealing.

Posted by Patrick J. McDonnell and Andrés D’Alessandro in Buenos Aires.