Bogota, Colombia
CNN
—
Colombians head to the polls on May 29 to select a brand new president in some of the turbulent instances in its trendy historical past.
Six candidates are vying for the presidency in a rustic affected by the financial fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic, social unrest and a deteriorating safety scenario.
On Sunday, a 39-million sturdy voters will likely be eligible to forged their ballots within the first spherical of voting. If not one of the candidates win by an absolute majority, it can go to a runoff vote, slated for June 19.
Here’s what it’s essential to learn about Colombia’s election.
Colombian presidents are solely elected for a single, four-year time period. And Colombians are prepared for change: Right-wing President Iván Duque’s approval score is at a low, together with his tenure marred by his administration’s dealing with of police conduct, inequality, and clashes between organized felony teams.
That discontent has positioned the left in sight of the presidency for the primary time within the nation’s historical past. Meanwhile, extra conservative candidates are rallying voters to belief a extra gradual sequence of reforms to appropriate Colombia’s course.
While there are 6 candidates on the poll, simply three candidates are anticipated to interrupt by with voters, in response to the most recent polls.
Front-runner Gustavo Petro is a former guerrilla fighter and mayor of Bogota, whose 2022 bid marks his third presidential marketing campaign. The 62-year-old left-wing candidate is working on a platform that proposes a radical overhaul of the nation’s economic system to fight one of many highest inequality charges on this planet. The former guerrilla fighter, who right now preaches reconciliation and an finish to violence, has framed his marketing campaign round whether or not Colombia is able to elect a revolutionary. He’s campaigned on attracting overseas funding in clear power, new applied sciences, transportation and telecommunications.
Petro is anticipated to go head-to-head with right-wing candidate Federico “Fico” Gutierrez, 47, the previous mayor of Medellin. Gutierrez is working on a message of continuity, saying Colombia must comply with the identical path of financial progress and pro-business insurance policies because it has carried out over the previous twenty years.
Meanwhile, 77-year-old entrepreneur Rodolfo Hernandez, the previous mayor of Bucaramanga – Colombia’s seventh largest metropolis, has surged in reputation over the previous few weeks, attracting centrist voters who reject Petro’s revolutionary calls and Gutierrez’s traditionalism. Hernandez’s distinctive social-media marketing campaign has drawn comparisons to that of former US President Donald Trump and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. The self-proclaimed “King of TikTok” has adopted a confrontational stance with conventional media: He didn’t seem in a number of of the televised debates organized by Colombia’s foremost broadcasters, and barely gave interviews to overseas shops – though he did seem on CNN, sporting his pajamas, saying that he was a “man of the people.”
Petro’s working mate, vice-presidential candidate Francia Marquez, has despatched shockwaves by Colombia’s political scene. The 40-year-old Black feminist and single-mother garnered the third-most votes in March’s main elections, along with her charismatic rallies attracting supporters throughout the nation. If elected, she would change into the primary Afro-Colombian to carry govt powers.
Colombians of African descent, the second largest group of its form in South America, have lengthy been marginalized in politics and in society. Marquez’s candidacy has given tens of millions of Afro-Colombians an opportunity to establish themselves with a nationwide politician – and hope for societal change of their nation.
During a latest speech in Bogota, she quoted Martin Luther King saying she additionally had “the dream to see my country at peace.”
Compared to Petro, who has been in politics for 20 years, Marquez is a part of a brand new wave of progressive leftists in Latin America who’re prioritizing points just like the atmosphere. In 2018, she received the Goldman Environmental Prize for efficiently organizing a girls’s group to cease unlawful gold mining on their ancestral land. She’s additionally an advocate for LGBTQ rights, gender points, and financial equality.
Colombia has been among the many quickest rising nations in Latin America lately, however that progress shouldn’t be trickling right down to working households and poorer populations.
Petro is counting on voters disillusioned by the nation’s financial outlook and who’ve suffered essentially the most within the final 4 years, as wages stagnated beneath Duque’s watch.
As a complete, the nation is richer than it was since Duque got here to energy in 2018, nevertheless the worth of the typical employee’s annual wage has dropped considerably because the Colombian peso has plunged 40% in worth towards the greenback since. That scenario is barely exacerbated by rising inflation and the warfare in Ukraine.
Gutierrez factors as an alternative to previous progress, saying that reasonably than an overhaul, Colombia’s economic system wants focused reforms to proceed on the identical path of growth. While Hernandez can be attempting to take advantage of some voters’ discontent with the normal political system, his strategy on the economic system – with a deal with corruption – is extra reasonable than Petro’s.
On neighboring Venezuela, Petro has stated he plans to re-establish diplomatic relations, even with strongman Nicolás Maduro in energy. Meanwhile, Gutierrez final week instructed CNN he’s keen to reopen business relationships on the Venezuelan border, however is reluctant to acknowledge what he calls “a dictatorship that has caused so much damage to the people.”
The election can be being held because the nation’s safety scenario is deteriorating.
Earlier this month, the infamous “Clan del Golfo” drug cartel imposed an “armed curfew” in retaliation to the US’ extradition of Diaro Usuga “Otoniel,” one in all its bosses, with six individuals killed and over 180 automobiles attacked throughout the nation’s Caribbean coast.
And through the first three months of this 12 months alone, practically 50,000 Colombians had been forcibly confined because of ongoing clashes between armed teams, in response to the United Nations.
The violence is tied to the nation’s narcotics manufacturing and trafficking, with Colombia’s cocaine manufacturing having considerably elevated lately. The pandemic has coincided with an uptick of felony exercise, with a number of teams exerting de-facto management over swathes of Colombian territory together with the Arauca, Cauca and Catatumbo areas.
How to revive state management over these areas – and combat again the cartels – is a key dialog on this election, and can show a formidable problem for the following president.
Petro has proposed to deal with the issue by legalizing hashish and partially de-criminalizing the consumption of cocaine and different medication. He has stated that he favors participating with felony teams by peace agreements akin to the 2016 peace cope with the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) that delivered to an finish to over half a century of guerrilla battle between the state and communist rebels. Petro has been the goal of criticism for his guarantees of “land democratization” and “social forgiveness” to convicted criminals, together with these charged for corruption.
In distinction, Gutierrez helps a extra conventional strategy within the combat towards crime. As the mayor of Medellin, he was nicknamed “the Sheriff” for his participation in police raids towards gangsters and has taken that ethos with him right now, promising to create a brand new particular police models concentrating on robberies and murders at nationwide degree, and the development of extra jails.
While all candidates are presenting their plans for the longer term, how Colombia mends the injuries of its previous will likely be simply as current on the poll.