With 98% of the votes counted, the first results showed the left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro with just over 40% of the vote, the populist former mayor of Bucaramanga Rodolfo Hernández with 28% and the right-wing candidate Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez with 23.%.
Petro and Hernandez are now expected to face off during a second round of voting on June 19.
The polls closed on Sunday afternoon with no major reports of violence or riots.
“We have one of the oldest democracies in this hemisphere. We have one of the strongest democracies and it is becoming solid because every four years we make an orderly transition,” outgoing President Ivan Duque said on Sunday.
The vote took place at one of the most turbulent times in Colombia’s modern history, with the country plagued by the economic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, social unrest and a deteriorating security situation.
The Duke’s own level of approval is currently low, with his tenure marred by his administration’s handling of police conduct, inequality, and clashes between organized criminal groups.
Popular discontent has put the left in front of the presidency for the first time in the country’s history. However, the preliminary results represent a setback for Petro, 62, a former guerrilla and mayor of Bogota, who had been widely regarded as one of the main candidates.
If elected next month, Petro would become Colombia’s first leftist leader; his formula mate Francia Márquez would also become the first Afro-Colombian to have executive powers. Petro has proposed a radical overhaul of the country’s economy to combat one of the highest inequality rates in the world.
Meanwhile, Hernandez, 77, has appealed to centrist voters with a unique campaign on social media. The self-proclaimed “king of TikTok” refused to take part in various televised debates and gave few interviews to foreign media, although he appeared on CNN, dressed in his pajamas, saying he was a “village man”. .
CNN’s Stefano Pozzebon reported from Bogota and Michelle Velez from Atlanta.