On Sunday, an electorate of 39 million people will be able to vote in the first round. If none of the candidates wins by an absolute majority, they will advance to a second round, scheduled for June 19.
Here’s what you need to know about the Colombian elections.
The last election was 4 years ago. Why is there another one so soon?
Colombian presidents are only elected for a single four-year term. And Colombians are ready for change: the level of approval of right-wing President Ivan Duque is low, with his term deteriorated by his administration’s handling of police conduct, inequality and clashes between organized criminal groups.
This discontent has put the left in front of the presidency for the first time in the country’s history. Meanwhile, more conservative candidates are gathering voters to rely on a series of more gradual reforms to correct Colombia’s course.
Who runs?
Although there are 6 candidates to vote, only three candidates are expected to arrive with voters, according to the latest polls.
The favorite Gustavo Petro is a former guerrilla and mayor of Bogota, the 2022 candidacy marks his third presidential campaign. The 62-year-old left-wing candidate is running on a platform proposing a radical overhaul of the country’s economy to combat one of the world’s highest inequality rates. The former guerrilla, who today preaches reconciliation and an end to violence, has framed his campaign on whether Colombia is ready to choose a revolutionary. It has campaigned to attract foreign investment in clean energy, new technologies, transportation and telecommunications.
Petro is expected to face right-wing candidate Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez, 47, the former mayor of Medellin. Gutiérrez presents a message of continuity, saying that Colombia must follow the same path of economic growth and pro-business policies that it has done for the last twenty years.
Meanwhile, 77-year-old businessman Rodolfo Hernández, the former mayor of Bucaramanga, Colombia’s seventh-largest city, has risen in popularity in recent weeks, attracting centrist voters who reject Petro’s revolutionary calls and Gutiérrez’s traditionalism. . Hernandez’s unique social media campaign has been compared to that of former US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The self-proclaimed “king of TikTok” has taken a stand against traditional media: he did not appear in some of the televised debates organized by Colombia’s major broadcasters and rarely gave interviews to foreign media, although he did appear in the CNN. in his pajamas, saying he was a “village man.”
The first black vice president?
Petro’s running mate, Vice Presidential candidate Francia Márquez, has caused a shock wave in Colombia’s political scene. The 40-year-old black feminist and single mother won the third majority of votes in the March primary election, with her charismatic demonstrations attracting supporters across the country. If elected, she would become the first Afro-Colombian to have executive powers.
Colombians of African descent, the second such community in South America, have long been marginalized in politics and society. Márquez’s candidacy has given millions of Afro-Colombians the opportunity to identify with a national politician and expect social change in their country.
During a recent speech in Bogota, he quoted Martin Luther King as saying that he also had “the dream of seeing my country at peace.”
Compared to Petro, who has been in politics for 20 years, Márquez is part of a new wave of progressive leftists in Latin America who prioritize issues such as the environment. In 2018, she won the Goldman Environmental Prize for successfully organizing a group of women to stop illegal gold mining in their ancestral lands. She is also an advocate for LGBTQ rights, gender issues, and economic equality.
Economy, security and drugs
Colombia has been one of the fastest growing countries in Latin America in recent years, but this growth is not limited to working families and the poorest populations.
Petro trusts voters who are disillusioned with the country’s economic outlook and who have suffered the most in the last four years, as wages stagnated under Duke’s surveillance.
Overall, the country is richer than it has been since Duque came to power in 2018, but the value of the worker’s average annual salary has dropped significantly, as the Colombian Peso has plunged 40% against the dollar since since then. This situation is only exacerbated by rising inflation and the war in Ukraine.
Gutierrez, on the other hand, points to past growth, saying that more than a revision, Colombia’s economy needs specific reforms to follow the same path of development. While Hernandez also tries to take advantage of some voters’ dissatisfaction with the traditional political system, his approach to the economy – with a focus on corruption – is more moderate than Petro’s.
On neighboring Venezuela, Petro has said he plans to restore diplomatic relations, even with strongman Nicolás Maduro in power. Meanwhile, Gutierrez told CNN last week that he was willing to reopen trade relations on the Venezuelan border, but was reluctant to acknowledge what he called “a dictatorship that has caused so much damage to the people.”
Elections are also being held as the country’s security situation is deteriorating.
Earlier this month, the famous “Clan del Golfo” drug cartel imposed an “armed curfew” in retaliation for the extradition by the United States of Diaro Usuga “Otoniel”, one of its leaders. with six people killed and more than 180 vehicles attacked across the country. Caribbean coast.
And in the first three months of this year alone, about 50,000 Colombians were forcibly confined as a result of ongoing clashes between armed groups, according to the United Nations.
Violence is linked to drug production and trafficking in the country, and cocaine production in Colombia has increased significantly in recent years. The pandemic has coincided with an increase in criminal activity, with several groups exercising de facto control over areas of Colombian territory including the Arauca, Cauca and Catatumbo regions.
How to restore state control over these areas and fight the cartels is a key conversation in this election and will be a formidable challenge for the next president.
Petro has proposed tackling the problem by legalizing cannabis and partially decriminalizing the use of cocaine and other drugs. He has said he is in favor of associating with criminal groups through peace agreements similar to the 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP), now demobilized, which put an end to more than half a century of guerrilla conflict between the state. and communist rebels. Petro has been criticized for his promises of “democratizing the land” and “social forgiveness” to convicted criminals, including those accused of corruption.
Gutiérrez, on the other hand, is in favor of a more traditional approach to the fight against crime. As mayor of Medellin, he was nicknamed “the sheriff” for his involvement in police raids against gangsters and today has taken him with him, promising to create new special police units aimed at robberies and murders nationwide, and construction of more prisons.
As long as all candidates present their plans for the future, how Colombia repairs the wounds of its past will be equally present at the vote.