Colombians will elect a successor to President Gustavo Petro | Election News

Polls have opened in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election, with a left-wing lawmaker, an independent businessman and a right-wing senator vying to replace the president. Gustavo Petro.

Pro-government senator Ivan Cepeda is leading the polls. In Sunday’s election, he wants to pass 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff in June, which would allow the divided right-wing to unite under one candidate.

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Whether Cepeda wins or not, he could become a powerhouse in Colombian politics.

In 2022, Petro became the first left-wing president in Colombia’s history to be elected, and Cepeda pledged to continue the outgoing leader’s reforms to fight poverty.

But scandals and questions about the validity of his policies have undermined Peter’s popularity. For several months, research has shown that Petro – who has a limit – will be replaced by another opponent.

But Cepeda, a 63-year-old senator, has been popular. A survey conducted earlier this month from the National Consulting Center (CNC) showed him with 33.4% support, the most of anyone.

His closest rival is Abelardo de la Espriella, 47, a businessman who promises to fight crime and armed groups by strengthening security and building large prisons, following the policies of the President of El Salvador. Nayib Bukele.

Until recently, Paloma Valencia, a senator with the support of former President Alvaro Uribe, was the favorite of the right wing, but she is currently third in the polls. If elected, Valencia will be the country’s first female president.

While this race looks like a three-horse race, 14 people are competing for the position of president.

If no winner wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, the top two vote-getters will face off in a second round on June 21.

More security is expected in Sunday’s vote, and officials want to keep tensions to a minimum by banning the sale and consumption of alcohol in public places.

The threat of violence has increased during elections. Last year, the presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay He was killed during a campaign stop in the city of Bogota.

Colombia has struggled with internal conflicts for more than six decades, with terrorist networks, right-wing militias, left-wing rebels and government forces all fighting for national control and political influence.

Uribe Turbay’s death was symbolic, as his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was accidentally killed in 1991 during a kidnapping by the Medellin gang.

How to approach Colombia’s security and address the issue of armed forces remains a perennial issue in the country’s presidential race.

Cepeda has promised to push and Peter The “Complete Peace” plan, prioritizing negotiations with armed groups and rebels instead of using military means alone.

This approach has failed to end the violence, but its proponents say it can solve the problem in the long run, while security breaches only provide a temporary solution.

“The solution to this conflict is not violent conflict, but it will end with murder,” Cristian Morales, 26, a supporter of Cepeda, told the Associated Press news agency in Bogota.

“It’s very difficult because it’s either a conversation or a tool, and internal conflict is not good for anyone.”

But Maria Eugenia, a 57-year-old seamstress, said she liked de La Espriella’s call for a tough campaign to restore security.

He said: “Of course, if you come with a heavy hand, there will be conflict. “But some people have to fall to clean what needs to be cleaned.”

The vote will be a referendum on the legacy of Petro, who wanted to increase public security in the country and was ready to do so. take the conditions against the United States, one of Colombia’s closest allies.

Supporter of Palestinian freedom, Petro faced US sanctions After President Donald Trump accused him, without evidence, of involvement in the drug trade.

He also spoke out against US airstrikes against the suspects medicine boats around Latin America – a campaign that activists say amounts to extrajudicial killings.

After months of conflict in which Trump threatened military action against Petro, relations improved after the Colombian president visited the White House in February.