Colombia held its general elections on May 29, with six candidates vying for the presidency of the country. With 96.2% of pre-counting completed 鈥 not the official result聽鈥 it is clear that a second round will take place.
Gustavo Petro and Francia M谩rquez (Historic Pact) obtained 40.3% of the vote, with 8.3 million votes, followed by Rodolfo Hern谩ndez and Marelen Castillo (Anti-Corruption League) with 5.8 million votes, equivalent to 28.1%.
There was a 47% voter turnout, with more than 18 million votes cast, as voting in Colombia is optional. The participation in this electoral process surpassed the 2014 presidential election, which had about a 40% turnout. The departments with the highest turnout were Cundinamarca, where the Capital District is located, with a 58% turnout; Bolivar with 58% and Quind铆o with 55%.
Despite appearing third in the opinion polls, Hern谩ndez surprised and opened a lead of almost five percentage points over Fico Guti茅rrez (Team for Colombia), who was considered the favorite to run in the second round.
With the slogan 鈥渄on鈥檛 steal, don鈥檛 lie, don鈥檛 betray鈥, Hern谩ndez bases his campaign on the fight against corruption, as the name of the alliance suggests, and on the fact that they are an alternative to the 鈥渙ld politics鈥. He is a civil engineer and owner of HG Construtora. With a strong discourse against insurgent movements, Rodolfo Hern谩ndez has declared that he has had family members kidnapped in the past by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia聽and the National Liberation Army.
Despite basing his campaign on the fight against corruption, Hern谩ndez will face trial on July 21, accused of corruption during his time as mayor of the city of Bucaramanga.
Petro and Francia, who took the first place in a landslide, propose to fight hunger, reactivate peace negotiations with insurgent groups, investigate cases of violence against social leaders and peasants, recognise the land rights of indigenous peoples and the rights of quilombolas (Afro-Colombians), as well as diversify the country鈥檚 economic base with a perspective of sustainable development.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs鈥 initial report, 190,000 people voted abroad.
The current results are based on the quick count carried out by the electoral authority, on top of the previous data transmitted by the electoral juries in each of the 102,000 polling stations located across the 32 departments and the capital district. Official results, however, are expected to be released during the week.
Some 400 people are following the election in 27 election observation missions.
In the first bulletin, the Electoral Observation Mission (EOM) registered 119 irregularities, such as vote buying or pressuring a voter.
In addition, 62% of the observed polling stations did not have biometric recognition machines installed, 36% of the electoral zones lacked jurors聽and 22% of the polling stations did not have electoral witnesses present.
Defense minister聽Diego Molano聽assured the media that the day passed smoothly, despite the fact that three explosions were registered in the departments of Caquet谩 and Guaviare. According to Molano, these were isolated events not related to the election.
Interior minister Daniel Palacios said he had received 584 reports of electoral irregularities, 506 within the country and the other cases registered in the United States, Canada and Spain. 鈥98 were for pressuring the voter, 81 for political intervention by public servants and 50 for surveillance of the electoral process,鈥 he said.
Because of the irregularities, two people were arrested in the departments of Nari帽o and Cauca. Electoral authorties also had to change the voting location of 31 polling stations due to weather issues.
鈥淭he process was quite fast. We hope that change will come, because we are already tired, especially the middle and lower classes. The state is not functioning as it should,鈥 said Edgar Malagon, a voter in the Teusaquillo area of the Colombian capital.
Martha Rocio, a voter in the central region of Bogot谩 also says she hopes for a change 鈥渇or the young people, that they have jobs, that they can study, that鈥檚 why I come to vote.
[Abridged from Peoples Dispatch. This piece was first published in . The second round run-off will take place on June 19.]