Colombia elections: rightwinger and former guerrilla head for presidential runoff

[Judi Lynn]

Iván Duque, a fierce critic of the peace accord, will face-off against former mayor of Bogotá Gustavo Petro in second round

Joe Parkin Daniels in Medellín and Ed Vulliamy in Bogotá
Sun 27 May 2018 20.32 EDT

Colombians have failed to elect a president outright, setting the stage for a bitter runoff between two frontrunners from opposite ends of the political spectrum, while a peace process with leftist rebels hangs in the balance.

Iván Duque, a hardline conservative who viscerally opposes the peace accord, took the largest share of the vote on Sunday with 39%, though fell short of the 50% required to win at the first round. Instead, he will face Gustavo Petro – a leftwinger and former mayor of Bogotá, who came second with 25% – in the second round on 17 June.

Petro, himself once a guerrilla, was Colombia’s first progressive candidate in generations and had been expected to gain a larger share. But a third candidate, the more moderate Sergio Fajardo, appeared to siphon off Petro’s support, receiving 23%. It remains to be seen if Fajardo, a reformer and former mayor of Medellín, will back Petro in the second round.

. . .

While voters were united in their distrust of establishment politicians, the campaign highlighted increasing polarisation, with Duque campaigning on a platform of market-friendly economics and Petro criticising the multinational mining companies that operate in the country.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/28/colombia-presidential-elections-ivan-duque-gustavo-petro-runoff