Opponent Gustavo Petro easily won Sunday’s first round of the presidential election in Colombia. He will face in the second round on June 19 an independent candidate, the millionaire Rodolfo Hernandez, who was only in third position in the polls.
Favorite in the polls throughout the campaign, Senator Petro, a former guerrilla convert to social democracy, economist and former mayor of Bogota, obtained 40.32% of the vote, according to official results covering 99% of the ballots counted. . He now has a strong chance of becoming the first left-wing president in the country’s recent history, after a historic rout of the right.
Surprised by this election, Rodolfo Hernandez climbed to the second round with 28.20% of the vote. Former mayor of the city of Bucaramanga (north) and businessman with often outrageous or eccentric statements, is nicknamed by the local press the Colombian Trump. He is ahead of conservative candidate Federico Gutierrez by almost four points (23.87%). His removal from this surprise election which marks an unprecedented defeat of the traditional Colombian right.
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(More information to come…)