Former guerrilla fighter Gustavo Petro wins first round of elections in Colombia

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Gustavo Petro during the election campaign

Photo: Mauricio Duenas Castaneda/EPA

For the first time in Colombia's history, Gustavo Petro could become a left-wing ex-guerrilla president.

He clearly won the first round of the presidential elections in Colombia.

Petro got 40.3 percent of the votes, as the electoral authority announced on Sunday (local time) after the preliminary count of almost all polling stations.

The non-party entrepreneur Rodolfo Hernández came to 28.1 percent.

The two strongest candidates will meet in the runoff on June 19.

If Petro also prevails in the second round, he would move into the Casa de Nariño government palace in Bogotá.

Colombia is traditionally conservative.

Although social inequality is enormous, left-wing politics has always been discredited by the violence of guerrilla groups in decades of civil war.

The millionaire building contractor Hernández is the mayor of the city of Bucaramanga, but has few political connections in Bogotá.

In the event of an election victory, the populist promises a lean government and a determined fight against corruption.

The current conservative head of state, Iván Duque, was not allowed to stand again because the constitution does not provide for re-election.

The ruling elite fears a shift to the left

For the first time in the more than 200-year-old history of the South American country, the left could come to power.

A reformed, moderate left, as Petro never tires of emphasizing.

But for the ruling elite it is still a nightmare scenario.

As a youngster, Petro was part of a guerrilla movement, and he nominated Francia Márquez, a black civil rights activist and champion of women's rights and environmental protection, as running mate.

In conservative Colombia, their victory would be tantamount to a revolution.

For decades, Colombia suffered from a bloody civil war between left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and state security forces.

220,000 people lost their lives and millions were displaced.

In 2016, the government signed a peace treaty with the left-wing FARC guerrillas, and hopes for an upswing were high.

But the violence is back, especially in rural areas.

300,000 police officers and soldiers were deployed on Sunday to protect voters, poll workers and candidates.

jok/dpa