Conservative leading Colombia vote
BOGOTA, Colombia — Results for Colombia’s first presidential election since the signing of a historic peace accord trickled in Sunday following a contentious campaign in which voters no longer focused on defeating leftist rebels weighed issues corruption, inequality and crime.
Preliminary tallies with 85 percent of polling stations reporting put former senator Ivan Duque in first place with about 39.7 percent of the vote. The race for second place was tight between leftist Gustavo Petro and former Medellin mayor Sergio Fajardo.
Conservative Duque, the protégé of President Alvaro Uribe, the chief critic of the peace deal, has led polls throughout the campaign and promised to amend important aspects of the accord such as ensuring drug trafficking is not an amnestied crime.
Petro had led the race for a spot in a June runoff if Duque is unable to secure the more than 50 percent of votes required to win in the first round. His anti-establishment message has galvanized youth voters upset over corruption and income inequality. Critics have warned the former guerrilla and ex-Bogota mayor’s rise could push Colombia dangerously toward the left.
Long lines of voters gathered in Bogota outside polling centers on an overcast day and police frisked people in at least one site — a legacy perhaps of when voting centers were targeted by leftist rebels who considered the political system a sham.
Among the early voters was Rodrigo Londono, the former leader of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, whose ex-combatants have formed a new political party. They put forward Londono as their presidential candidate, but he dropped out after experiencing heart issues.
He said it was his first time voting in a presidential election.
“It’s very moving because this is the fruit of a path that Colombians are building,” he said.