BOGOTÁ (AP) — Colombia defined presidential candidates from three political blocs in a crowded vote on Sunday: ex-rebel Gustavo Petro on the left, ex-mayor Federico Gutiérrez on the right and ex-governor Sergio Fajardo in the center.
In the Congress, which was elected simultaneously, Petro’s movement managed to position itself as an important force, although the traditional parties maintained a high vote.
Three political currents submitted to inter-party consultations, a mechanism with which, through the citizen vote, single candidates for the presidency are elected.
With more than 97% of the votes counted in the inter-party consultations, Petro won the left-wing coalition after obtaining more than 4.3 million votes, representing 80% of the preferences, a result anticipated by analysts after leading the polls and compete with lesser-known figures such as social leader Francia Márquez, former governor Camilo Romero, indigenous representative Arelis Uriana, and Christian leader Alfredo Saade.
In total, the coalition obtained more than 5.3 million votes, the highest of all the political blocs.
“We are on the verge of winning the presidency of Colombia in the first round,” Petro said after receiving the results in front of his supporters in Bogotá. He took the opportunity to call on other political forces to join his project.
In a political career spanning four decades, Petro has militated in various leftist movements. In his youth he belonged to the extinct guerrilla M-19, after laying down his arms he came to Congress where he made a name for himself after denouncing links between politicians and paramilitaries. In 2010 he was elected mayor of Bogotá.
In 2018 he ran for the presidency and lost with eight million votes to the current conservative president Iván Duque, who exceeded 10.3 million votes, after the right united to counterweight Petro, whom they pointed out as wanting end private property.
The elections take place in the midst of a complex situation in Colombia after the pandemic that left 21 million people in poverty, according to the latest official data. The nonconformity was condensed last year in massive protests against the government’s economic and social policies, in which human rights violations were also reported.
“Petro knew how to read very well the social needs that increased with the pandemic and were evident in the protests,” Johan Caldas, a political and economic analyst at the Universidad de la Sabana, told The Associated Press.
Sergio Fajardo, a centrist candidate and critic of the government, emerged victorious in a much closer vote and with less electoral support, obtaining more than 700,000 votes, which represented 33% of the vote within the coalition. He competed with the academic Alejandro Gaviria, the former governor Carlos Amaya and the former legislators Jorge Enrique Robledo and Juan Manuel Galán, son of an iconic politician assassinated in 1989 for his opposition to drug trafficking. The coalition added 2.1 million votes.
“We are the expression of a vote free from clientelism… from influences that should not be part of politics. We are the way to overcome this polarization that is being repeated today and that we already saw four years ago,” said Fajardo, who will bet on winning the votes of those who abstained from voting.
Fajardo, a mathematician by profession, began his political career in 2000 when he ran for mayor of his native Medellin, a position he achieved four years later. Later, he was governor of Antioquia and in 2018 he came third in the presidential elections with 4.6 million votes.
In the right-wing coalition, which represents a continuous and more conservative line, the winner was Federico Gutiérrez, a civil engineer with extensive experience in politics in his native Medellín, where he was mayor in 2016. Gutiérrez obtained more than two million votes, which represented 54% of the vote, managed to overcome former mayor Alejandro Char, and former senators David Barguil, Aydeé Lizarazo and former mayor Enrique Peñalosa. This coalition added 3.8 million votes.
“We will guarantee order with character, fighting corruption, strengthening security and fighting injustice,” said Gutiérrez, accompanied by the other coalition candidates.
There are three more candidates who were not measured in the inter-party consultations and will go directly to the first round: Óscar Iván Zuluaga, from the ruling Democratic Center; Íngrid Betancourt, who makes her political comeback after being kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas, and Rodolfo Hernández, a former mayor of an intermediate city who has seen rapid growth in the polls.
Paola Montilla, a doctor in Political Science and a professor at the Externado de Colombia University, explained to the AP that Sunday’s election is a first thermometer that shows the electoral flow of the candidates.
“Gutiérrez’s campaign, who at the moment is not as well known nationally, could take off. When comparing it with the scenario of the 2018 elections, Iván Duque was not as well known, but he gained strength until he won, “Montilla said.
The first presidential round will be held on May 29. In the event that no candidate obtains more than 50% of the total votes, a second round of elections must be called a couple of weeks later, only between the two candidates who have achieved the highest number of votes.
With this Sunday’s vote, the composition of Congress, currently with majorities of traditional parties, will also be defined. In total there are 108 senators and 187 representatives to the Chamber. Ten of these seats will go to the Comunes party, created by former guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who signed a peace agreement in 2016 with the Colombian state.
Another 16 seats will be destined for the first time for representatives of the victims of the internal armed conflict. Two more seats will go to the presidential and vice-presidential candidate who rank second in the presidential elections.
With 90% of the tables counted, Petro’s Historical Pact was the surprise of the elections, obtaining a high vote in the Chamber and Senate. “The historic pact takes possession of the new Congress as the most important political force in the Legislative having majorities,” Caldas said.
While the Democratic Center, led by former president Álvaro Uribe and which had the largest bench, decreased in voting. “It is an expected result in accordance with the different discrepancies that have been had with the current government that is from the Democratic Center. However, they continue to maintain themselves as a large party”, added Caldas.
At the beginning of the voting day, the army reported two attacks with explosive devices in rural areas of the departments of Meta and Caquetá in which two soldiers died and two others were injured. The authorities are investigating the events and did not attribute responsibility to any group outside the law.
Illegal armed groups persist in Colombia, such as the guerrilla National Liberation Army (ELN), the FARC dissidents led by those who abandoned the peace agreement, and the Clan del Golfo drug-trafficking group. The authorities have deployed a military and police unit of 240,000 elements throughout the territory, focusing particularly on rural areas.
The Observation Mission of the European Union, the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Union of Electoral Organizations participated as observers in the electoral process.
