The information was released by the politician through a video published on his social networks, where he expressed his support for Federico Gutiérrez, who won the center-right primaries, in which the ruling party did not participate.
The former Colombian Minister of Finance specified that his retirement is due to the electoral results, which represented a loss of 21 seats in parliament for the Democratic Center party.
Likewise, Zuluaga explained that the Democratic Center will have the freedom to make the pertinent decisions for the party, among which could include the selection of a new candidate before the registration period ends at the Registrar’s Office, next Friday, March 18.
“Only united can we preserve democracy and freedom,” Zuluaga said in his message of resignation from his candidacy.
Primary elections
According to AFP, during the primary elections held simultaneously, the former mayor of Medellín -“Fico” Gutiérrez- won the center-right nomination by a wide margin, with 2.1 million votes, while the leftist coalition led by Gustavo Petro obtained more than double the support (4.4 million) and the highest vote in the Senate.
Previously, Fico Gutiérrez called for the union between the movements of the center and the right, in order to “stop” the advance of Petro, who heads the list in the polls.
In this way, among the figures of the first presidential round, which will take place on May 29, Petro and Gutiérrez are registered in the first place, followed by Sergio Fajardo -winner in the center coalition with 723,000 votes-, Íngrid Betancourt -former hostage of the FARC guerrilla-, and the independent businessman Rodolfo Hernández.