By Juan Forero and Kejal Vyas
Updated May 29, 2022 at 9:36 PM ET
BOGOTA, Colombia — Gustavo Petro, a 62-year-old former left-wing guerrilla, won a majority of votes in the first round of Sunday’s presidential election by promising to insert the state into Colombia’s market economy. the rich and move the country away from its dependence on oil and coal.
With almost every polling station reporting results in this country of 50 million people, Mr. Petro won 40.3% of the vote in a field of six candidates who offered different proposals on how to move Colombia forward while fighting high poverty and drug growth. related violence following a punishing pandemic. In a reprimand to the conservative class that has long ruled Colombia, voters gave the second highest number of votes, 28.1%, to a populist real estate mogul, Rodolfo Hernandez, who criticizes corruption in short videos on social media .