Colombia’s election on June 19 will go as far as a runoff between two anti-incumbency candidates, as voters on Sunday were unable to elect the president outright.
Gustavo Petro, a left-wing former guerrilla and one-time mayor of Bogotá, won the largest share of the vote with 40%, but fell short of the 50% needed to win outright and prevent a second round. In the runoff would be Petro’s rival Rodolfo Hernandez, a business magnate and social media firebrand who is seen as a conservative, populist outsider.
Voters in the South American country voted amid a polarizing climate and growing discontent over rising inequality and inflation.
Hernandez was an unnamed relative until the election boomed before the election. His campaign – largely run on TikTok – was criticized for being light on policies and heavy on anti-establishment populism. He got 28% of the vote on Sunday.
“Today, the nation of honest workers has won,” Hernandez said in a speech published on his Facebook page on Sunday evening. “Today has won the country that does not want to move on, even for another day, with that [people] Which put us in the painful position we are in.”
Medellin’s right-wing former mayor Federico Gutierrez, widely seen as a continuation of the current government of limited-term President Ivan Duque, performed poorly on Sunday, receiving only 23% of the vote. He could prove to be the kingmaker in the second round as his supporters are likely to move to Hernandez.
Petro, who has been leading the polls for months, came second in the 2018 election. He has promised to make significant adjustments to the economy, including tax reform, and to change how Colombia fights drug cartels and other armed groups.
If he is able to defeat Hernandez in June, it would be the first time a South American nation has a leftist president. Petro’s running mate Francia Marquez is already making history as the first black female vice-presidential candidate.
Petro casts his vote in Bogotá, having initially forgotten to get home the ID card after he goes home and needs to vote, “Petro for President!” from his supporters.
“I believe in Colombia, a peaceful dream, beautiful, fair and full of work and wisdom,” Petro wrote in a brief handwritten letter posted on social media Sunday morning. “I believe the time has come to make dreams come true.”
Also on the ballot on Sunday was Colombia’s delicate peace process with leftist rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who collapsed after a peace deal was signed in 2016, killing more than 260,000 Decades of civil war were put to an end, with 7 million displaced. People. State forces and their paramilitary forces contributed to the violence.
Petro is a strong supporter of the deal, while the defeated Gutierrez is seen as a skeptic. Hernandez has promised to support the deal, although critics say the octagon businessman may shift that position as he seeks to form a right-wing coalition.
“We know that Petro stands with the poor,” Ana Romero, a student from Bogota, said outside a polling station on Sunday afternoon. “Nobody knows anything about Rodolfo” [Hernández],
Voting took place on Sunday amid fears of political violence, although officials said there was no major violence related to the election. Marquez voted in his hometown in conflict-torn Coca province with police officers wearing bulletproof shields, while Petro campaigned from behind a phalanx of bodyguards.
The National Liberation Army (ELN), another leftist rebel group, declared a ceasefire for Sunday’s vote, but other factions and criminal groups have regularly targeted political candidates and polling stations in recent years.
A boom in anti-establishment campaigns with the public apart from social unrest. Last year mass protests against inequality led to the closure of cities across the country. A recent Gallup poll found that 75% of respondents felt their country was headed in the wrong direction. This discontent was felt at the ballot box.
“Colombians are demanding a change in the socio-economic paradigm that will guide public policies for the next four years, but most importantly, a change that restores their hope; risk consultancy firm Control Risk ahead of the election.” Hope for better days, for a better social environment with less corruption and more equality, said Sylvana Amaya, a senior analyst at