After former senator Ingrid Betancourt left the race last Friday, there are now six men who are vying for the presidency. In the event that none of them obtains more than 50% of the votes, the two candidates with the most votes will face each other in a ballot on June 19.
Gustavo Petro
The candidate of the Historical Pact, a coalition of leftist parties, was mayor of Bogotá between 2011 and 2015, a term in which he stood out for his social projects. In his youth, he was part of the M19 guerrilla, which signed peace with the Colombian government in 1990.
The 62-year-old economist promises to reduce the social gap with a basic income for the most disadvantaged and protect the environment with the suspension of new contracts for the extraction of oil and coal, the country’s two main export products.
All the polls agree in showing the leftist Gustavo Petro as the favorite to win the elections, although he would not get it in the first round. Petro would obtain, depending on the polling firm, between 38.8% and 46.5% of the voting intention.
Federico Gutierrez
Federico Gutiérrez or “Fico”, the diminutive with which he campaigns, won the primaries of the coalition of movements that oppose Gustavo Petro in March. At 47, he is the youngest candidate in this race and has never held a national position.