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News > Colombia

Colombia: Gustavo Petro Wins First Round and Heads to Runoff

  • Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro (left) greets with his vice presidential candidate Francia Márquez today,

    Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro (left) greets with his vice presidential candidate Francia Márquez today, | Photo: EFE/Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda

Published 29 May 2022
Opinion

Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro has convincingly won the first round with 40,32% vs. right-wing populist candidate Rodolfo Hernandez with 28,15% with 99.96% of the vote counted. The election now moves on to a runoff between the two leading candidates.

Colombian presidential candidates Gustavo Petro, of the Pacto Histórico coalition (left-wing), and Rodolfo Hernández, of the Liga de Gobernantes Anticorrupción (center-right), will advance to a runoff election in June, according to the preliminary tally of the National Registry (electoral body) of Sunday's elections.

In today's elections, a total of 102 152 polling tables were distributed in 12 500 polling stations. According to the registry, 51.6 percent of those eligible to vote were women (20 million 111 thousand 908) and 48.4 percent were men (18 million 890 thousand 331).

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The left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro won the vote with 40,32% vs right-wing populist candidate Rodolfo Hernandez with 28,15%, a result that is very much a certainty.

Speaking to a large crowd Gustavo Petro, made Sunday a call to the people to bet on a change, facing the second round of elections on June 19.

"What is being disputed today is change (...) I ask Colombia to make a constructive change of much wider capacity", he said in his speech after Sunday's election day.

In the first comments after the results, Colombian presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernandez, who placed second in this election and is moving to the runoff on June 19, highlighted Sunday's election day and said that he is prepared to face resistance to his crusade against corruption.

"Today the citizens won, today Colombia won, and these next days will be decisive for the future (...) I am aware of the difficulties that will come when I assume the presidency of the Republic, I am not naive to the resistance that there will be with the government to end corruption", said the engineer and former mayor of Bucaramanga (northeast).

The program of the  Historical Pact leader proposes to create the ministry of equity, achieve 50 percent of representation of women in public institutions and promote an energy transition towards sustainable national development. 

Of the more than 39 million people who were expected to exercise their right to vote this Sunday over 20 million have done so. 

Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández will now move on to a runoff for the presidency next June 19. 

This May 29 marked a historic moment in Colombia's democratic history, since until the last moment polls had placed the electoral formula of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez with the left-wing coalition Historical Pact in the lead with a voting intention close to 40 percent before the election.

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