Colombia braces for change after ex-rebel Gustavo Petro wins presidency
- Gustavo Petro wins Colombia’s presidency, the first progressive to do so in the country’s history
- Petro issued a call for unity during his victory speech and extended an olive branch to his harshest critics
Colombia is bracing for the prospect of a radical change in economic and political direction after ex-guerilla Gustavo Petro was elected as the country’s first ever left-wing president.
Petro beat millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in a tense and unpredictable run-off election. With all votes counted, Petro – the 62-year-old former mayor of Bogota – won with 50.4 per cent compared to Hernandez’s 47.3 per cent.
“As of today, Colombia is changing, a real change that guides us to one of our aims: the politics of love … of understanding and dialogue,” a victorious Petro said on Sunday.
Hernandez, 77, accepted the result, in which he came up short by 700,000 votes, in a Facebook live broadcast.
“I hope that Mr Gustavo Petro knows how to run the country and is faithful to his discourse against corruption,” said the construction magnate, who had made fighting corruption his main campaign pledge.
Petro will succeed the deeply unpopular conservative Ivan Duque, who was barred by Colombia’s constitution from standing for re-election, in a country saddled with widespread poverty, a surge in violence and other woes.
