Gustavo Petro, a 62-year-old leftist former guerrilla, took the most votes in Sunday’s first round by pledging to insert the state into Colombia’s market economy, heavily tax the rich and move the country away from its dependence on oil and coal.
leftist former guerrilla , took the most votes in Sunday’s first round of the presidential election by pledging to insert the state into Colombia’s market economy, heavily tax the rich and move the country away from its dependence on oil and coal.
With nearly all voting stations reporting results in this country of 50 million, Mr. Petro won 40.3% of the vote in a field of six candidates who offered varying proposals for how to move Colombia forward as it struggles with high poverty and growing drug-related violence in the wake of a punishing pandemic. In a rebuke of the conservative class that has long ruled Colombia, voters gave the second-highest number of votes—28.1%—to a populist real-estate tycoon, Rodolfo Hernández, who rails against corruption in short social-media videos. Unable to get the majority needed to win outright Sunday, Mr. Petro now faces off against Mr. Hernández in a June 19 runoff. With 21 million of the country’s 39 million registered voters casting a ballot, Colombians brushed off Federico Gutiérrez, a 47-year-old former mayor of Medellín who had the support of President Iván Duque’s conservative party and was seen by many political analysts as a continuation of the current administration “This is a surprising result that leads us to uncharted territory—two nonparty, nonpolitical system candidates winning,” said Jorge Restrepo, a political analyst at the Bogota-based CERAC policy analysis group. “It’s a rejection of the political system and the political elites…People don’t want parties, elites, political or government experience. The question is, where will this rejection of the institutions take us and how would the two of them govern?” Real-estate tycoon Rodolfo Hernández, shown in Bucaramanga, Colombia, on Sunday, won second place with 28.1% of the vote and will head to the runoff.The second-place finish by Mr. Hernández will pose a challenge in the June runoff for Mr. Petro, who is trying for the third time to win the presidency. A recent Invamer poll showed a tight second round, with Mr. Petro getting 50%, while Mr. Hernández garnered a close 47.4%. Fewer than 10% of respondents said they had a negative view of Mr. Hernández, compared with Mr. Petro’s 37%. Polls show that Mr. Hernández had been trending upward in recent weeks by casting himself as a political outsider, skipping televised debates and using witty social-media videos to campaign, said César Caballero, director of the polling firm Cifras y Conceptos. “This is why Rodolfo is much, much more competitive in a second round against Petro,” Mr. Caballero said of Mr. Hernández, a former mayor of the midsize city of Bucaramanga. In his popular posts on TikTok, Mr. Hernández rails against career politicians—who he says are largely corrupt—using snappy zingers and the flair of a comic at a roast. “I’m spontaneous, I’m natural,” he says in one video, explaining why he uses crass language against his foes. “I don’t hold back. I say what my heart says.” Mr. Hernández says he would trim the budget and supports fully legalizing marijuana. Like Mr. Petro, he says he is opposed to fracking for oil and favors renewable-energy alternatives such as solar and wind. In one video, he offers a simple solution to combat politicians he says are robbing the nation: zero impunity. “Rodolfo has been able to mobilize public opinion and connect with voters by holding sway on the theme of corruption,” said Patricia Muñoz, a political science professor at Javeriana University in the capital. “Though for some his proposals are populist and easy, for others they are clear, direct and simple.”
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