The ideological quadrant appears again in the Latin American political showcase and its offer is for the Colombian elections that will be held in the second round, on Sunday, June 19, between Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández.
The right and left slopes are projected on the coffee firmament in the form of a riddle for the voter.
The question they ask themselves in Colombia is only one: which of the two will offer them a better life and good results?
The election already had a first verdict in its first round that took place on May 29 and since no candidate obtained 50 plus 1, there was no winner.
Gustavo Petro obtained 40% of the votes and Rodolfo Hernández, the representative of the right, kept 28%, thus reaching his participation for this second round on Sunday, June 19. D-Day is fast approaching.
For this second electoral confrontation, the polls indicate a technical tie, anticipating a close result and where the current president, Iván Duque, does not seem to be a factor that impacts the result.
Let’s see the credentials of the two finalists
Gustavo Petro is a left-wing politician, a former guerrilla fighter in his youth, who seeks to design economic reforms to reduce inequality in the country. He accompanies him within his formula, the activist for human rights and environmentalist, Francia Márquez, who brings him the vote of the young people who work for this cause.
In conservative circles it is thought that Petro would turn Colombia into an authoritarian country, away from neoliberal economic models and the epithet of Petrophobia has gained strength, promoted by business groups that fear that Colombia will become part of the bloc of countries that form part of the Sao Paulo Forum and that would join Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Nicaragua and Argentina among others like Mexico that sympathize with a socialist agenda.
For his part, Rodolfo Hernández, 77, is preceded by many years of activity as a successful builder in Colombia that has led him to be compared to Donald Trump, a businessman also in the brick industry and who places him as a powerful man of businesses that would govern under business parameters that would make government work processes more efficient.
Hernández has not been able to structure a powerful message and has rather managed to elaborate pieces of communication with little content that have not connected with the great coffee voter.
The two candidates for the Presidency of this beautiful country in the Southern Cone are united by only one thing, the concept of change seen from their own point of view. This old concept of electoral marketing continues to be the axis of campaigns around the world and now is no exception. It is worth noting here that retracement is also an option for change, and this is what business groups want to avoid.
Democracy is put to the test again and Colombia is now the stage.
We’ll meet later.