One week before the first round, the final public meetings of the presidential campaign were held on Sunday in Colombia in a climate of great nervousness and ever more polarized.
“Nerves on edge,” summed up the press of the day about this election, which promises to be one of the “most unpredictable of recent decades in Colombia”.
Opponent and left-wing senator Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla and former mayor of Bogotá converted to social democracy, continues to lead the race in the polls (41%), suggesting for the first time arrival of the left in power, in a country historically led by conservatives.
“To date, however, the polls suggest that a triumph [de M. Petro] from the first round will not be possible, ”prognosticates the daily El Tiempo.
“If nothing extraordinary happens by May 29”, he should therefore face in the second round scheduled for June 19 the right-wing candidate Federico Gutierrez, a former mayor of Medellin who is around 27% of the intentions of vote, but is now seriously hounded by an independent candidate, the outsider Rodolfo Hernandez, who is already seen in the second round. The Franco-Colombian candidate Ingrid Betancourt joined the latter on Friday.
At the head of the “Historical Pact” coalition, Mr. Petro ended his field campaign, which began very early and was carried out throughout the country, with a large rally in a historic square in the center of Bogotá, where thousands of people were already gathered at the beginning of the afternoon.
This will be his “100th electoral speech”, the opportunity to relay, alongside his charismatic Afro-Colombian running mate for the vice-presidency Francia Marquez, his promise of “change” and a government “for all Colombians” who wants to “put an end to political hatred within society”, according to the candidate’s team.
Federico Gutierrez, known as “Fico” to his supporters, holds a meeting on his land in Medellin.
After having called for a long time to block “the communists” who want to “expropriate” and “end with the institutions”, the leader of the “Team for Colombia” coalition calls on his fellow citizens to “unite”, promising to “work for all Colombian families” and to fight against “insecurity”.
” Alarm signal “
“A week of hell is coming, where the candidates will burn their last cartridges”, while “nervousness in the campaign is generalized”, underlined the press again on Sunday.
This campaign will have been tough, and without much ideological debate. If it did not lack low blows, brainwashing, intimidation and manipulation, “we expected worse” given the Colombian liabilities, puts a source within an international NGO into perspective. “But the worst is probably yet to come.”
The campaign will have been marked in particular by threats against Mr. Petro, who no longer speaks in public except behind a hedge of armored shields, but also against “Fico”. Threats that have revived the specter of an assassination, in a country still marked by decades of political violence during which five presidential candidates were assassinated in the 20th century.
Another controversy has been fueling the ambient feverishness for a few days, with doubts around the reliability of the electoral process.
After various declarations on the software that will be used for the counting of the ballot and inconsistencies in the precount during the legislative elections of last March (won by the left), rumors are rife about a possible suspension or resignation of the head of the National Civil Registry. , in charge of the organization of the elections, even a postponement in extremis of the ballot.
Saturday evening, Mr. Petro, crying wolf, launched an “alert” and affirmed during a meeting “that they intend to strike a blow at the elections […] by “suspending the bodies that manage the electoral system in Colombia”. And to call on two other candidates to meet urgently on Monday on this subject, at least one of whom, Mr. Hernandez, has already sharply rejected this call.
“The allegations of postponement or suspension of the elections are absolutely false”, retorted the Minister of the Interior Daniel Palacios, asking the candidates not to make “misinformation”.
The head of the National Register, Alexander Vega, said on Sunday that he was able to guarantee a “reliable and transparent” presidential election, denouncing the “false and unjustified attacks which accredit a narrative on fraud”.
“This story has been in the air for a few days,” comments a diplomatic source. “A postponement of the elections is practically inconceivable” while “the electoral machine is reliable and is ready for next Sunday. But it’s still a lot of tension…”
These tensions are a “warning signal” and likely to “undermine the confidence of citizens”, also judged in the press the expert on the Colombian conflict and respected intellectual, Gonzalo Sanchez.