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Historic turning point in Colombia's presidential election: ex-guerrilla wins first round of elections

2022-05-30T07:55:24.995Z


Historic turning point in Colombia's presidential election: ex-guerrilla wins first round of elections Created: 05/30/2022, 09:44 By: Markus Hofstetter The brutal violence of the rebels has so far discredited left-wing politicians in Colombia. Now a former guerrilla could move into the presidential palace. Bogotá - The presidential elections in Colombia came to a historic turning point. Left-w


Historic turning point in Colombia's presidential election: ex-guerrilla wins first round of elections

Created: 05/30/2022, 09:44

By: Markus Hofstetter

The brutal violence of the rebels has so far discredited left-wing politicians in Colombia.

Now a former guerrilla could move into the presidential palace.

Bogotá - The presidential elections in Colombia came to a historic turning point.

Left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter, clearly won the first round with 40.3 percent of the vote.

This was announced by the electoral authority on Sunday (local time) after the preliminary count of almost all polling stations.

The non-party, populist candidate Rodolfo Hernández, a multi-million dollar building contractor, surprisingly came second with 28.1 percent.

In doing so, he passed the conservative candidate Federico Gutiérrez, who suffered an unprecedented defeat for Colombia's traditional right with almost 24 percent.

Presidential election in Colombia: Winner will be decided in a run-off election

Petro and Hernández will now fight for victory in the June 19 runoff.

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

"An era comes to an end.

Now it's about shaping the future," said Gustavo Petro after the announcement of the result.

If he also prevails in the second round, it would be the first time in recent Colombian history that a leftist would move into the Casa de Nariño government palace in Bogotá.

The former "Comandante Aureliano" and later mayor of the capital announced economic, social and ecological reforms.

These include taxes for the wealthy, an emergency program against hunger and the move away from oil and gas and instead promoting renewable energies.

Gustavo Petro (M) won the first round of the presidential election in Colombia © Fernando Vergara/dpa/picture alliance

Hernández was mayor of the city of Bucaramanga and 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.

Presidential elections in Colombia: Left-wing politicians have had a difficult time because of the civil war

Although Petro's victory was already apparent before the elections, it is still surprising since the country is traditionally considered to be conservative.

Social inequality is enormous, around 40 percent of Colombians live in poverty and, according to the World Bank, income inequality in the country is one of the most pronounced in the world.

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But so far, left-wing politics has always been discredited by the violence of guerrilla groups in decades of bloody civil war.

In fighting between rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and state security forces, 220,000 people lost their lives and millions were displaced.

Presidential election in Colombia: Head of state faces major challenges

The future head of state of Colombia faces enormous challenges.

The second most populous country after Brazil and the US's most important ally in South America is suffering from the corona virus, inflation and social injustice.

One problem in particular is that the peace treaty that the government signed with the left-wing FARC guerrillas in 2016 is fragile.

This initially gave hope for an upswing, but promises were broken on both sides, violence escalated again, at the same time the drug trade boomed while the economy faltered.

The precarious situation is also reflected in the fact that 300,000 police officers and soldiers were deployed on Sunday to protect voters, poll workers and candidates.

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-30

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