BOGOTA, May 29 — Colombians vote today in a first round of presidential elections, with a leftist poised for victory for the first time in the country’s troubled history.
Petro, 62, is hoping to avoid a June 19 run-off against 47-year-old Federico Gutierrez, a former mayor of second city Medellin who represents an alliance of right-wing parties.About 300,000 armed police and soldiers will keep the peace at 12,000 polling stations countrywide, under the watchful eye of observers from the Organization of American States and the European Union.
Around 40 per cent of Colombians today live in poverty, and the country has one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world, according to the World Bank.The Duque government’s image was not helped by its internationally denounced response to weeks of anti-poverty protests last year that saw dozens of civilians killed.
Gutierrez’s focus has been on a “strong state” response to crime in the world’s biggest cocaine producer. Petro, a former member of the M-19 urban rebel group which laid down arms in 1990, has vowed to pursue peace talks with the last remaining guerrilla group, the ELN, which were suspended under Duque.
Three other candidates, each with support in the single-digits according to opinion polls, complete the picture.
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