Presidential elections in Colombia | Left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro tops first results

(Bogota) Colombia voted on Sunday to choose its new president between left-wing opponent Gustavo Petro and independent businessman Rodolfo Hernandez, two candidates embodying the break who fought a ruthless fight to the end. With 65% of the ballots counted, Gustavo Petro is now in the lead.

“We are going to elect a good president, different from those before”: like a voter in Bogota, Colombians went to the polls in large numbers, once again expressing their thirst for change, against a backdrop of rumors charges of fraud by Camp Petro.

The National Register, responsible for organizing the poll, announced at 4 p.m. (5 p.m. in Montreal) the closing of the polls. The provisional results are expected in the evening.

In a few hours, Colombia will know its new president, after a particularly bitter struggle between two “anti-establishment” candidates who swept away in the first round on May 29 the conservative and liberal elites in power for two centuries, and a campaign with an execrable atmosphere.

The latest polls published gave them almost equal.

” At home ”

Senator Gustavo Petro, ex-guerrilla converted to social democracy and former mayor of Bogota could become Colombia’s first left-wing president. Or it will be the unclassifiable millionaire Rodolfo Hernandez, ex-mayor of a large city in the north, described as a surprise, promising to put an end to “thieves” and “bureaucracy”, who will preside over the destinies of the country.

Petro voted with his family at the end of the morning in a popular district of Bogota. His team has planned a big election night in a large theater in the capital.

Hernandez, who voted for him at dawn in his stronghold of Bucaramanga, announced that he would await the results there “at home”.

Nearly 32,000 police and soldiers had been deployed to secure the ballot, and no major incident was reported at the end of the afternoon.

The newly elected will succeed the conservative Ivan Duque, who could not stand for re-election and is completing his particularly unpopular mandate.

This election took place in a context of deep crisis, after the pandemic, a severe recession, harshly repressed anti-government demonstrations, and an increase in violence by armed groups in the countryside.

Presidential “break”, “historic day”, “great change” announced for an election “at the finish”, summed up the media.

In Bogota, the crowds at the polling stations were sustained, it was noted, with voters sometimes enthusiastic, uncertain or worried, but almost always eager to break with traditional politics. “I want a change. Maybe we won’t have a messiah, but it’s better to come and vote,” commented Maria Diaz, 42.

The hypothesis of a too tight result has worried in recent days, raising fears of possible overflows. The reservations repeatedly expressed by the Petro camp have cast doubt on the reliability of the electoral process.

“The polls place us far ahead of the other candidate. […] All that remains is to watch out for fraud,” the left-wing senator said again on Twitter on Sunday.

“In a democracy, only the ballot counts. Do not insist on creating an atmosphere of fraud based on gossip,” Mr. Hernandez fired back.

“Firm and strong”

Following denunciations from the Petro camp, the National Register warned voters during the day, with photos in support, against ballots discreetly scribbled in pen, likely to be considered invalid.

The same morning, at the opening of the vote, his boss, Alexander Vega, had assured that the electoral process remained “firm and strong”.

Mr. Petro, 62, had easily come out on top in the first round, with 40% against 28% for Mr. Hernandez, 77, and a 55% turnout.

“It is time to elect a man in your image who simply wants to end corruption and move Colombia forward,” the real estate magnate commented on Twitter on Sunday, one of whose shock formulas is “ do not steal, do not lie, do not betray”.

“Do we want to keep going backwards, following the path of the past, or moving forward together? “, pleaded for his part Petro, in a final address to the voters. “It’s not about Petro or Hernandez, it’s about choosing real, real change for life. The choice is in your hands”.

Whoever wins, Colombia will have an Afro-descendant vice-president on Sunday evening for the first time in its history: Petro’s running mate, activist Francia Marquez, 40, or academic Marelen Castillo, 53.

In a divided country, which emerged even more polarized from this presidential election, all analysts insist on the immense task that awaits the next president to recompose a fractured society.

An official challenge to the provisional results by one of the two camps would prolong the whole process for several days and plunge the country into dangerous uncertainty.

“There is a lot of frustration in the streets and a lot of political polarization”, warned Elizabeth Dickinson, analyst for the International Crisis Group (ICG), judging that “this could easily degenerate into post-election unrest”.