Left-wing candidate Gustavo Petro has won Colombia’s presidential election. With 98 percent of the votes counted, he can no longer be overtaken by his right-wing opponent Rodolfo Hernández. The victory of Petro (62) is special. For a long time it was almost inconceivable in Colombia that a left-wing candidate would have a serious chance at the presidency.
Nearly 40 million voters in Colombia could choose on Sunday between Petro, who was a guerrilla fighter a long time ago, and the wealthy entrepreneur Hernández, who became very popular thanks to social media, among other things. Because of his often bold statements and eccentric campaign style, Hernández is also known as the “Colombian Trump”.
In Colombia, left-wing rebel groups such as the FARC, ELN and M-19 have fought mainly right-wing governments for decades. Guerrilla movement M-19, of which Petro was once a member, gave up arms in 1990 and transformed itself into a political party. Petro was then mayor of the Colombian capital Bogota for some time. He has pledged to fully implement the 2016 peace deal with the left-wing FARC rebels. He also wants to enter into new peace talks with the ELN rebels still active in parts of the country.
Petro has also vowed to make sweeping economic and social changes as president. It is especially popular among young people. But opponents accused him during the campaign of wanting to copy the economically troubled policies of the late ex-leader of neighboring Venezuela, Hugo Chávez. Petro himself denies that.