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BOGOTA, 20 Jun: Colombia will be governed by a leftist president for the first time after former rebel Gustavo Petro narrowly defeated a real estate tycoon in a runoff election that underscored people\u2019s disgust with the country\u2019s traditional politicians.<\/p>\n
Petro\u2019s third attempt to win the presidency earned him 50.48% of the votes Sunday, while political outsider Rodolfo Hern\u00e1ndez got 47.26%, according to results released by election authorities.<\/p>\n
The election came as Colombians struggle with rising inequality, inflation and violence \u2014 factors that led voters in the election\u2019s first round last month to punish long-governing centrist and right-leaning politicians and pick two outsiders for the runoff contest.<\/p>\n
Petro\u2019s win in Latin America\u2019s third most populous nation was more than a defeat of Hern\u00e1ndez. It puts an end to Colombia\u2019s long stigmatization of the left for its perceived association with the country\u2019s half century of armed conflict. The president-elect was once a rebel with the now-defunct M-19 movement and was granted amnesty after being jailed for his involvement with the group.<\/p>\n
Petro issued a call for unity during his victory speech Sunday night and extended an olive branch to some of his harshest critics, saying all members of the opposition will be welcomed at the presidential palace \u201cto discuss the problems of Colombia.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom this government that is beginning there will never be political persecution or legal persecution, there will only be respect and dialogue,\u201d he said, adding that he will listen to those who have raised arms as well as to \u201cthat silent majority of peasants, Indigenous people, women, youth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vote is also resulting in Colombia having a Black woman as vice president for the first time. Petro\u2019s running mate, Francia M\u00e1rquez, 40, is a lawyer and environmental leader whose opposition to illegal mining resulted in threats and a grenade attack in 2019.<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez, whose campaign was based on an anti-corruption fight, conceded his defeat shortly after results were announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cI accept the result, as it should be, if we want our institutions to be firm,\u201d he said in a video on social media. \u201cI sincerely hope that this decision is beneficial for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petro\u2019s showing was the latest leftist political victory in Latin America fueled by voters\u2019 desire for change. Chile, Peru and Honduras elected leftist presidents in 2021, and in Brazil former President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva is leading the polls for this year\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n
But the results were an immediate reason to fret for some voters whose closest reference to a leftist government is the troubled neighboring Venezuela.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that Mr. Gustavo Petro complies with what was said in his government plan, that he leads this country to greatness, which we need so much, and that (he) ends corruption,\u201d said Karin Ardila Garc\u00eda, a Hern\u00e1ndez supporter in the north-central city of Bucaramanga. \u201cThat he does not lead to communism, to socialism, to a war where they continue to kill us in Colombia. … (H)e does not lead us to another Venezuela, Cuba, Argentina, Chile.\u201d<\/p>\n
About 21.6 million of the 39 million eligible voters cast a ballot Sunday. Abstentionism has been above 40% in every presidential election since 1990.<\/p>\n
Petro, 62, will be officially declared winner after a formal count that will take a few days. Historically, the preliminary results have coincided with the final ones.<\/p>\n
Several heads of state congratulated Petro on Sunday. So did a fierce critic, former President \u00c1lvaro Uribe, who remains a central figure in Colombia\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n
Polls ahead of the runoff had indicated Petro and Hern\u00e1ndez \u2014 both former mayors \u2014 were in a tight race since they topped four other candidates in the initial May 29 election. Neither got enough votes to win outright and headed into the runoff.<\/p>\n
Petro won 40% of the votes in the initial round and Hern\u00e1ndez 28%, but the difference quickly narrowed as Hern\u00e1ndez began to attract so-called anti-Petrista voters.<\/p>\n
Petro has proposed ambitious pension, tax, health and agricultural reforms and changes to how Colombia fights drug cartels and other armed groups. But he will have a tough time delivering on his promises as he does not have a majority in Congress, which is key to carrying out reforms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe people who do support him have very high hopes, and they are probably going to be disappointed pretty quickly when he can\u2019t move things right away,\u201d said Adam Isacson, an expert on Colombia at the Washington Office on Latin America think tank.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you might find a situation where he either has to strike some deals and give up a lot of his programs just to get some things passed or the whole cou-ntry could be gridlocked,\u201d Isacson added. (AP)<\/p>\n
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BOGOTA, 20 Jun: Colombia will be governed by a leftist president for the first time after former rebel Gustavo Petro narrowly defeated a real estate tycoon in a runoff election that underscored people\u2019s disgust with the country\u2019s traditional politicians. Petro\u2019s third attempt to win the presidency earned him 50.48% of the votes Sunday, while political […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-193522","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}