A favorite in the polls, Social Democrat Senator Petro won 40.32% of the vote on Sunday, according to official results covering 99% of the vote. Rodolfo Hernandez came second with 28.20% of the vote.
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A partly unexpected result. The left-wing opponent Gustavo Petro easily won the first round of the presidential election in Colombia on Sunday May 29. He will face in the second round Rodolfo Hernandez, an unclassifiable and independent candidate who beat the representative of the traditional right.
Senator Petro, a former guerrilla converted to social democracy, obtained 40.32% of the vote according to the official results bearing 99% of the votes. The economy and former mayor of Bogota was favorite in the polls. He will be opposed on June 19 next to independent millionaire Rodolfo Hernandez, who came second with 28.20% of the vote. A controversial figure that the local press nicknames the “Colombian Trump”, looking like Berlusconi.
The conservative candidate Federico Gutierrez, however supported by all the establishment and the traditional elites of the country, came third with 23.87% of the vote. He called for voting for Rodolfo Hernandez in the second round. The accession of Gustavo Petro to the highest office would be a political earthquake in Colombia, where conservatives have monopolized power for decades.