Above Photo: Gustavo Petro just before casting his vote on Sunday, May 29, at Colombia’s presidential elections first round. Reuters / Santiago Arcos.
Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández are the candidates for the presidency of Colombia that will be measured in a second round, after not reaching the necessary number of votes defined by the Colombian rule of 50% plus 1.
Colombia’s National Registry, the electoral authority, reported with 99.16% of the pre-counted votes that the candidates who will contest the second round on June 19 are Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández.
Gustavo Petro, candidate for the Historical Pact, obtained 8,479,095 votes, equivalent to 40.31% of the votes, while Hernández obtained 5,931,722 votes, representing 28.20%.
Although Petro’s result was expected, since he was the favorite in the polls, Hernández’s results on the contrary was a surprise given that he managed to consolidate himself during the last stretch of the campaign, when, in the polls, he began to approach the candidate of the right Federico Gutierrez.
However, in the results this Sunday, Hernández managed to surpass Gutiérrez, who obtained 4,780,765 votes, equivalent to 23.98%, representing an important defeat for current president Ivan Duque and his political mentor Alvaro Uribe.
Second round
Rodrigo Hernández became a controversial candidate, since his campaign was based on the fight against corruption, while he faces investigations by the prosecutor’s office and the attorney general’s office for this crime.
The results obtained this Sunday show that the second round will be tight, since Hernández could collect part of the votes from the right, as well as those who oppose Gustavo Petro. Therefore, alliances will be the key for this second round.
After finding out the results, the candidate Federico Gutiérrez announced that his formula will vote in the second round for the candidate Hernández, although he clarified that he will not be part of his government.
“I have not spoken with Rodolfo, nor do we need to, I want to express publicly that we do not want to lose the country or put the future of Colombia at risk, our families and our children and that is why Rodrigo and I will vote for Rodolfo next June 19,” he stated.
Some analyst evaluate this almost automatic support for Hernández as evidence of both candidates’ (Hernández and Gutiérrez) representation of the interests of Colombia’s oligarchy and thus an early sign for those looking for a change to move to the alternative path offered by Petro. Other analysts see Hernández support as an indication that centrist and conservatives in Colombia will unite in the second round and raise a challenge for Gustavo Petro.