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Colombians head to the polls in the present day in a presidential election which will give the conservative South American nation its first ever leftwing chief and first black vice-president.
Frontrunner Gustavo Petro, a former M-19 guerrilla fighter and senator, faces a number of rivals, however his important challenger is Federico Gutiérrez, the previous mayor of Medellín – Colombia’s second metropolis – who leads a rightwing coalition with shut ties to the incumbent authorities of President Iván Duque.
Rodolfo Hernández, a enterprise magnate and social media firebrand, has additionally seen a late surge within the polls. If no candidate secures greater than 50% of the vote, a run-off election will happen in June.
Petro’s marketing campaign has been boosted by assist from a technology of younger voters politicised throughout an unprecedented wave of protest final yr.
“In Colombia we’re bored with the identical factor,” stated Rosa Botero, a scholar, at Petro’s closing marketing campaign rally within the metropolis’s historic Plaza Bolívar final week. “Petro may change Colombia.”
Petro’s opponents, in the meantime, declare that his victory may portend a nationwide collapse like that ushered in by the late Hugo Chávez, who led neighbouring Venezuela to financial and social damage.
Whoever wins the presidency will face extreme challenges. The nation was paralyzed by protests final yr in opposition to inequality, whereas violence by dissident rebels and drug militias continues to plague cities and the countryside. Inflation is rising, and the nation is struggling to deal with practically 2 million migrants from neighbouring Venezuela.
The historic peace deal signed with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) in 2016 can be on the poll. That deal formally ended half a century of civil warfare that killed 260,000 individuals and displaced 7 million, however the authorities has been accused of slow-walking its implementation.
Petro is a fervent supporter of the deal, whereas Gutiérrez is seen as a sceptic.
“This can be a historic election as a result of it’s the first time that the left has an actual probability of getting in energy, and that may be a results of the peace course of,” stated Laura Gil, a political scientist and columnist. “It’s a proposal that brings collectively social actions that weren’t capable of categorical themselves electorally because of the sword of Damocles that hung over them throughout the armed battle.”
The marketing campaign has been marked by threats of violence in opposition to Petro and his working mate, Francia Márquez, who if elected can be considered one of two black feminine vice-presidents in Latin America, alongside Epsy Campbell Barr of Costa Rica. Each Petro and Márquez have spoken at rallies from behind bulletproof shields.
The Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN), one other leftist insurgent group, introduced a ceasefire within the run-up to Sunday’s vote, however different factions and felony teams have routinely focused political candidates and polling stations in recent times.
Polls will shut at 4pm native time, with outcomes anticipated just a few hours later although Petro and a few of his allies have warned that the election could possibly be vulnerable to fraud, worrying observers in a rustic that prides itself on its relative political stability.
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