Gustavo Petro of the Historic Pact and Rodolfo Hernández of the League of Anti-Corruption Leaders are the two candidates who will occupy the House of Nariño for a four-year period.
Both break the streak of politicians who have contested the presidency of a nation currently in crisis.
According to some polls, the two candidates reach a technical tie that day, although others give Petro, who represents the alternative and left sectors, a 10 percentage point advantage.
Hernández, on the other hand, while also not affiliated with any traditional party, is the target of the far right and has come marked by multiple accusations of scandalous corruption crimes.
This electoral process comes at a time when the outgoing government is being challenged over non-compliance with the peace deal, the annihilation of corporate leaders and the socio-economic crisis, according to a report by human rights groups.
In a review of the four years of Iván Duque’s government, conducted by the Colombian Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development, the Colombian Europe-United States Coordination and the Alliance of Social and Related Organizations, made up of more than 500 social organizations composed, they warn of the legacy that will be left to the new presidency.
The document, titled “Hunger and War: The Legacy of the Apprentice,” indicates that “the annihilation of social leadership has reached the level of truly ongoing genocide, with impunity and in force, and one of the most dramatic expressions of action of the Duque government against the peace process”.
It also notes that the number of victims of mass displacement has increased by 675 percent throughout the peace process, and last year the country was again ranked as the third-largest country in the world for displaced people, behind Syria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
They blame the Duque government for the breach of the peace agreement, the humanitarian crisis and the resumption of war for failing to fulfill the commitments the state made under the agreement to end the violence.
“Dismantling paramilitarism, reforming security agencies, and ensuring the free exercise and nonviolent repression of social protest are undoubtedly issues where this government has failed,” the text stresses.
He warns that although the Duque government denies the existence of the armed conflict and does not even mention it in its defense and security policy, the International Committee of the Red Cross confirms not one but six different armed conflicts in the country.
The platforms explained that citizen nonconformity manifested in recent years erupted in 2021 with social protest, which was met with “excessive and indiscriminate use of force.”
On the other hand, the government fell short of the Development Plan’s goals in social affairs, and Colombia consolidated itself as one of the most unequal countries in Latin America and third in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“At the end of the four-year term of Iván Duque’s government, the country has experienced one of the most serious humanitarian crises in many years, having returned to a situation of violence and social precarity similar to the situation at least 10 years ago, before the start of the peace process ” they say.
Against this scenario, Duque became one of the most unpopular presidents in history, with just under 20 percent approval.
Now the new head of state that emerged from this process faces an important challenge to transform the country.
If Petro wins, proposing precisely a “change for life,” it would be an unprecedented victory in the history of the left in Colombia, but if Hernández wins, the country will have a president who doesn’t even know the geography itself and will backed by right-wing sectors refusing to suffer an electoral defeat.
Both share their experience as mayors, the difference in this aspect is that in Bogotá (2012-2015) Petro achieved important results and was recognized as the sixth best mayor in the world.
Meanwhile, Hernández from Bucaramanga (2016-2019) is facing several lawsuits against himself for illegal contracts, for not paying workers’ pensions, for self-financing his campaign despite charges, among others.
A total of 39 million, two thousand, 239 citizens qualified to vote today in the second round of elections that will select the new President and Vice President of Colombia.
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