Following the close of polls in Colombia's presidential election on Sunday, two candidates who promised change outside the traditional liberal and conservative party system captured the top two places in the vote, setting the stage for a second round in the South American nation. .
The left-wing candidate, Gustavo Petro, led with 40.6% of the vote over his closest rival, businessman Rodolfo Hernández with 28.1%.
Federico
Fico
Gutiérrez followed third with 23.9%, the candidate aligned with the current right-wing government of Iván Duque.
[A lot of tension between the Colombian presidential candidates a few hours before the elections]
With 98% of the preliminary vote counted,
Petro and Hernández will face each other in a second election in June
in which Colombians will decide who holds the presidency between the two
anti-establishment candidates.
Gustavo Petro, presidential candidate of the Historical Pact coalition, shows his ballot before voting during the presidential elections in Bogotá, Colombia, on Sunday, May 29, 2022.Gustavo Petro, left-wing presidential candidate, of the Historical Pact coalition, shows his ballot before voting during the presidential elections in Bogotá, Colombia, on Sunday, May 29, 2022. / AP
After the election day that ended at four in the afternoon, Colombians were attentive to the first results of
a presidential election marked by polarization and growing discontent over inflation and inequality
.
The Registrar's Office released the preliminary results with constant updates on Sunday, however, the results of the vote count -in which they verify the vote and give them legal validity- will be declared days later.
With a speech against the elites and in favor of the most vulnerable, the leftist Petro led the polls.
He would become Colombia's first leftist president
if he manages to win in the second round after failing to get more than 50% of the vote in the first.
The candidates for the presidency of Colombia express themselves 24 hours after the polls open
May 28, 202201:49
Trailing behind Petro in the polls were Hernández, a populist real estate tycoon who promised financial rewards for ads about corrupt officials, and Gutiérrez, a conservative who has tried to distance himself from unpopular President Iván Duque.
With an eventual victory for Petro, Colombia would join countries in the region that recently elected leftist politicians, such as Pedro Castillo, in Peru;
Gabriel Boric, in Chile, Xiomara Castro, in Honduras and Andrés Manuel López Obrador in Mexico.
From Brazil, the now candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has expressed his public support for Petro, assuring that if both become president they would unite to "build a strong South America."
[She survived being killed four times in the worst crimes of the Peruvian Army. She now she buries dozens of her neighbors]
According to the polls,
Hernández would be a strong Petro contender with a chance of beating him in a second round
.
Hernández became the final stretch in the electoral surprise before a notable growth in the polls.
“The millionaire who entered politics so as not to steal anymore”, is how he described himself in advertisements.
Disruptive and difficult to fit into a political fringe, his banner is the fight against corruption and austerity in the State, with controversial proposals such as turning the presidential palace into a museum.