Old acquaintances, newcomers to elected positions, opponents and defenders of the current administrations feed the rattle of possible candidates for Governor and Mayor in 2023. Many have not made a decision because they are waiting for the decision to be made by the former president Álvaro Uribe and former presidential candidate Federico Gutiérrez.
Nine months following the registration limit is met, alliances and strategies are beginning to be put together, and some might be supported by political leaders who move a large number of votes in the department, such as Senator Carlos Andrés Trujillo, current president of the Conservative Party (See parentheses).
It has transpired that a sector promotes the desire for former president Álvaro Uribe to bring together a team that will carry out regional candidacies. And there is no shortage of those who want him to aspire to the Governorate, although there are no certainties that he will agree to embark on that purpose once more. The truth is that he has one of the most relevant electoral and citizen opinion flows in the department, a tool that he might use to leverage third parties.
The expectation of many is set on what the former presidential candidate Federico Gutiérrez, who obtained 1,385,565 votes in Antioquia in the first round, but he has not defined whether he will return to the local, Mayor’s or Governor’s Office, or if he will persist in his desire to seek the presidency in 2026.
Who sounds like Mayor?
On the sides of Medellín there are no certainties, but there are several indications. Many of those who contemplate the option go with the same premise: “save Medellín” from what they consider an institutional crisis that was conceived in the current government. However, names sound similar to the Mayor Daniel Quintero who would seek to continue their political project in the city.
In the first group are three of those who are most firm with the decision to run for mayor. Santiago Jaramillo, former councilor expelled from the Democratic Center in 2018, he can already be seen in the streets making himself known, since his intention is to collect signatures to endorse a candidacy with his Consensus political project.
Simón Molina wants to turn to the collection of signatures when the electoral schedule allows it, for which he resigned last June from his seat on the Council, which had the endorsement of the Democratic Center. He hopes to consolidate himself in the center-right spectrum and have the backing of “Fico”.
Gutiérrez’s former Secretary of Security, Andrés Tobón, He is another who has the goal of being on the 2023 ticket. He is trying to win the candidacy of the movement We Believe, of the former presidential candidate.
Less sure, but with the subject under analysis they are councilor Luis Bernardo Vélez, whose name has been widely mentioned on the public agenda and who is today one of the biggest opponents of the Quintero administration; Juan David Valderrama, director of Inder in the period 2016-2017, that it continues to study the possibility with members of youth, cultural, social, feminist groups and the academic and business sectors; the deputy of Antioquia, Luis Eduardo Peláez, of the Dignity party, who has been invited to run, but hopes to know the opinion of the public to define if he aspires.
In the same line names like that of the Alianza Verde councilor, Daniel Duque, another opponent of Quintero; Y Quintero’s former Secretary of Youth, Alejandro Matta, who persists in his proposal to popular sectors, social organizations and alternative forces to build a collective proposal to consolidate a candidate, who might be him or another person. The We Are Ready party, which today has Councilor Dora Saldarriaga in local politics, is advancing in the internal processes to determine if they put a candidate in those elections.
In Mayor Quintero’s close circle, at least three names sound, two of his former secretaries: Juan Carlos Upegui, of Non-Violence, and Esteban Restrepo, of Government. Both left their positions in the Mayor’s Office to assume the flags of President Gustavo Petro’s campaign. Precisely, last week Quintero leveraged Upegui in networks by saying that he was a “possible candidate”, but regarding Restrepo it has also been said that he would go for the Governorate.
Another close to the local president is former councilman Albert Corredor, who resigned his seat and the Democratic Center in June of this year. However, he has not made a decision either, although he has been seen on tours and activities in different communes and sending text messages inviting people to learn regarding his political project.
Sources close to the process have said that Mayor Quintero’s Independientes movement would seek an internal consultation to choose a candidate and even possible alliances with parties such as the Conservative and the Liberal.
And to the Government?
Although “Fico” sounds like one of those who would have the most options for the Governor’s Office (without neglecting that they also see him for the Mayor’s Office) he is also on the scene the former mayor of Rionegro, Andrés Julián Rendón, who hopes that everything will be given to him. “We began to have those conversations within the party (Democratic Center). Hopefully, from there, a great coalition will be built that represents the feelings of the people of Antioquia”, he said.
The former president of Congress, Juan Diego Gómez, He is waiting for the temperature of the presidential elections to drop to analyze whether it is possible to build a project in Antioquia.
And although no information has been known regarding which candidate would promote the continuity of Governor Gaviria, many consider that the call is Luis Fernando Suárez, Human Security Beings, who was praised for his role as governor in charge.
In any case, it has been surprising that people who aspired to it in 2019 are now more interested in the Mayor’s Office. It is the case of former Peace Commissioner, Juan Camilo Restrepo, and the Secretary of Agriculture, Rodolfo Correa.
Analysts consider that this change in aspiration might be due to the expectation regarding Gutiérrez’s decision. The truth is that it is still too early to know who will be at the starting line.