The left-wing opponent Gustavo Petro came out ahead on Sunday, May 29, in the first round of the presidential election in Colombia. He will face, in the second round, an independent candidate, Rodolfo Hernandez, according to the provisional official results published in the evening.
Mr. Petro cumulates 40.32% of the votes, ahead of Mr. Hernandez (28.20%), indicate these results given by the National Register, in charge of the organization of the ballot, after the counting of more than 99% of the ballots . The conservative candidate Federico Gutierrez is in third position with 23.87%, a surprise result which marks an unprecedented defeat for the traditional Colombian right.
For the first time in its history, Colombia could elect a left-wing president in the presidential election, the second round of which will take place on June 19. At the head of a coalition of progressive parties, Historic Pact, the candidate Gustavo Petro, 62, has been well ahead in all the polls for months.
In the opinion of all observers, Senator Petro, a former guerrilla convert to social democracy, economist and former mayor of Bogota, knew how to exploit the thirst for change shown by Colombians in the face of inequalities and corruption, a need which he made his emblem with his slogan » For life « .
political earthquake
The four years in office of outgoing Conservative President Ivan Duque, who could not stand for re-election, saw no substantive reform. They were marked by the pandemic, a deep recession, massive anti-government protests in the cities and an increase in violence by armed groups in the countryside.
“There are only two options: leave things as they are, (…) which means more corruption, violence, hunger. Or change Colombia and lead it towards peace, prosperity and democracy”said Mr. Petro on Sunday after voting in Bogota.
His accession to the highest office would be a political earthquake in a country where conservatives have monopolized power for decades. Dozens of journalists awaited Sunday evening the first statements of the winner of this first round at his campaign headquarters in the capital. Around them, supporters of the left coalition celebrated with applause each count confirming the advance of their champion.
This is the third time that Mr. Petro has participated in the presidential election. This time, he has as a running mate for the vice-presidency an Afro-Colombian, Francia Marquez. The rise to the top of the state of this charismatic activist with a feminist and anti-racist discourse would also mark a turning point in Colombian politics, traditionally dominated by the same elites.
Facing the “Colombian Trump”
As some polls at the end of the campaign suggested, millionaire Rodolfo Hernandez, 77, came in second. The former mayor of the city of Bucaramanga (north), a businessman with often outrageous or eccentric declarations, is nicknamed by the local press the “Colombian Trump”.
While Mr. Gutierrez was seen throughout the campaign as Petro’s challenger, these surprise results mark the historic rout of Colombia’s old right, like his mentor, ex-president Alvaro Uribe, today. mired in legal disputes.
« Today the country has won because it does not want to continue another day with the same people who have brought us to the painful situation we are in »commented in the evening Mr. Hernandez from his stronghold of Bucaramanga.
“We now know that there is a strong will among citizens to end corruption as a system of government”he welcomed, judging that « the next few days will be decisive in determining the future of the country ». “I am counting on you to win in the second round and thus be able to concretize this great path that you have opened today”he concluded.
Low turnout
“A fortnight ago, no one could have imagined that a tiktokero [fan de TikTok] would be the strength of this first round” and that it could become « Petro’s Worst Nightmare »commented in the evening on the online media Cambiosumming up the surprise of the local press.
« This rude, nearly octogenarian engineer came out of nowhere, started to rise in the polls and succeeded, without leaving his home and thanks to a blitz on social media, to meet the aspirations of a part of the population and become the only candidate capable of beating Petro head-to-head”was surprised Cambio.
The turnout was 54.8% and the ballot took place normally, according to the authorities. A plethora of international observers, including from the European Union and the Organization of American States, attended the vote, and nearly 300,000 police and military were deployed throughout the territory, plagued by increasing violence by the armed groups in recent months. Interior Minister Daniel Palacios spoke of a « absolute tranquillity, without major alteration to public order »despite nearly 600 reported irregularities.