Colombians say these are the most significant elections in decades.
On Sunday, the third most populous country in Latin America heads to the polls to elect a new president. At stake is the country’s economic model, its democratic integrity, and the livelihood of millions of people who were pushed into poverty amid the pandemic.
“One always tends to say that these are the most important elections there has ever been,” said Elisabeth Ungar, a long-time Colombian political analyst, “but I honestly believe on this occasion that these elections are going to define a lot of things.”
Polls show that Gustavo Petro, a senator and former member of a rebel group, is ahead of two former right-wing mayors, Federico Gutiérrez and Rodolfo Hernández. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent, a second round will be held on June 19 between the top two finishers.
If Petro wins, he will become Colombia’s first leftist president, marking a milestone in a country long ruled by a conservative ruling class.
His rise reflects not only a shift to the left across Latin America, but a push once morest incumbent governments that has gathered force as the pandemic has deepened poverty and inequality, intensifying the sense that the region’s economies they are built primarily to serve the elite.
“We believe in real political and social change,” said Diego Guzmán, 25, a university student who described his vote for Petro as a rejection of “the ruling political class.”
Petro has promised to transform Colombia’s economic system, which he says fuels inequality, by expanding social programs, ending oil exploration and shifting the country’s focus toward domestic agriculture and industry.
Colombia has long been the United States’ strongest ally in the region, and Petro is calling for a readjustment of the relationship, including changes in approach to the war on drugs and a reassessment of a bilateral trade agreement that might lead to a clash with Washington.
Gutiérrez, who has the support of much of the conservative establishment, advocates modest adjustments to the status quo, such as putting more money into local governments.
Hernandez, who was relatively unknown before he began to surge in the polls in the final days of the campaign, runs a populist anti-corruption platform but has raised alarm bells with his plan to declare a state of emergency to achieve his goals.
Many voters are fed up with rising prices, high unemployment, low wages, rising education costs and rising violence, and polls show that a clear majority of Colombians have an unfavorable view of the current president, Iván Duque, who is largely considered part of the conservative elite.
Still, some Colombians say they see voting for Petro as a risk, but one they are willing to take. “It scares me more that they continue to govern us,” said Helena Osorio, 25, a nurse who earns little more than minimum wage.
Not everyone agrees. Juan Sebastián Rey, 21, a political organizer who supports Gutiérrez, said he considered Petro a bad leader.
“I am very afraid of Gustavo Petro and I am not afraid of him because of the government program or his ideas, but because of his character.”
The election comes at a time when polls show growing distrust in the country’s institutions, including the National Registry, an electoral body. The registry made mistakes in the initial recount of the votes of the legislative elections in March, which has caused concern that the losing candidates in the presidential vote declare that there was fraud.
The country is also experiencing an increase in violence, which undermines the democratic process. The Electoral Observation Mission, a local group, qualified this pre-election period as the most violent in the last 12 years.
Both Petro and his running mate, Francia Márquez, have received death threats, which led to a strengthening of their security measures, including bodyguards with riot shields.
Despite these dangers, the elections have galvanized many Colombians who long believed their voices were underrepresented at the highest levels of power, lending the process a sense of hope. That feeling of optimism is inspired in part by Márquez, a former domestic worker and environmental activist who, should she win her nomination, would be the country’s first black vice president.
His campaign has focused on the fight once morest systemic injustice, and his most popular slogan, “live tasty”, which might be interpreted something like “live rich and with dignity”.
Sofia Villamil y Megan Janetsky collaborated with reporting from Bogotá.