Surprise election run-off beckons in Colombia.
Written by News Room on May 30, 2022
Colombia’s next president will be a choice between a former leftist rebel and a man dubbed the country’s Trump after Sunday’s first round of voting.
Gustavo Petro, a former mayor of the capital Bogotá as well as an ex-militant, topped the poll as expected, taking around 40 per cent of the vote but Rodolfo Hernández came second despite opinion polls favouring conservative Federico Gutiérrez.
If Mr Petro, 62, wins he will be the first left-wing president in the country’s history has promised to fix the country’s deep inequalities and switch its reliance on fossil fuels to clean technology.
The unexpected result for Mr Hernández, a 77-year-old construction magnate with a populist touch reminiscent of the US’s ex-President Donald Trump, marks an upset for the traditional right and has campaigned on an anti-corruption ticket, despite being under investigation for allegedly favouring a company his son had lobbied for.
Seun Fakorede
