Conservative candidate Ivan Duque has prevailed in Colombia's presidential election with 39 percent of the vote, though he fell short of the margin needed to avoid a runoff. Gustavo Petro landed in second place.
Image: picture-alliance/AP/F. Vergara
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With nearly all precincts reporting, conservative front-runner Ivan Duque has been declared the winner in the first round of Colombia's presidential election.
Duque prevailed over five other candidates on Sunday, garnering 39 percent of the vote. But it wasn't enough to win the contest outright, as he failed to pass the 50 percent mark.
Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro came in second with roughly 25 percent of the vote. In a very close third place was center-left candidate Sergio Fajardo, with nearly 24 percent. The race for second was tight until the very end, but it was ultimately Petro who eked out the win.
Duque and Petro will meet in the runoff contest on June 17.
Voters flooded the polls, with 53 percent of the 36 million Colombians registered to vote turning out on Sunday. It was the highest presidential election turnout in two decades.
The election will be crucial to decide the fate of the nation's 2016 peace deal with the FARC rebels, which saw the end of Latin America's longest-running conflict.
Candidates presented differing views on whether the deal should be maintained as is, or whether it should be changed.
Duque, who has close ties to former President Alvaro Uribe, has pledged to rewrite the accord, which he sees as too lenient on a group that waged a decades-long war of terror on Colombia. Critics warn that Duque could turn out to be a puppet of the former president.
Uribe's presence in Colombian politics has loomed large. He openly quarreled with the current president, Juan Manuel Santos, who was once his ally and seen as someone who would carry on his legacy. Instead, Santos opted for peace with the FARC, a break with Uribe's more hard-line approach. Since then, Uribe has maintained his hold on Colombian politics by forming a new party, Centro Democratico, and supporting candidates like Duque.
Petro supports the peace deal with the FARC rebelsImage: Reuters/H. Romero
Gustavo Petro, a leftist former mayor of the country's capital, Bogota, was the second option for Colombian voters in public opinion polls a week before the race. Petro backs the peace deal with the FARC rebels.
Himself a former member of the disbanded M-19 rebel group, Petro caused surprise with his candidacy as Colombian presidential elections have traditionally been dominated by right-wing candidates.
Voters have focused on issues such as corruption and income inequality, which has played in Petro's favor. But many critics have warned that Petro could bring Colombia to a similar fate as Venezuela's leftist regime, which is suffering a severe economic crisis. The ex-guerrilla has responded by distancing himself from Venezuela and labeling its president, Nicolas Maduro, a "murderous dictator."
A polarized runoff
The upcoming clash between Duque and Petro is set to be contentious, as both candidates stand on opposite sides of nearly every policy issue. While Duque performed well in the countryside with his more traditional base, an area that was hard hit by guerrilla-related violence, Petro won in the poorer coastal sections of the country.
But center-left Fajardo came out ahead in Colombia's influential Bogota district, winning over urban voters. The question will be whether these voters will back Duque or Petro in the runoff, and courting them could influence the candidates' campaign messaging over the next two weeks.
Colombia's long struggle for peace
Colombia's presidential election is an important milestone towards consolidating the peace accord with FARC guerrillas. It was reached after decades of bloody conflict between the state and the FARC guerrilla groups.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Legaria
Difficult path toward peace
The 2016 signing of the peace accord between the Colombian government and FARC rebels was a major, but not final, step towards ending the decades-long conflict. The deal remains a controversial topic in the country and took center stage during the presidential election.
Image: Kaeufer/Moser
Land owners vs. farmers
The conflict's origins date to the 1920s and a struggle over land ownership, which claimed thousands of lives. The 1948 murder of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan (photo), a liberal politician, threw the country into deep crisis. A result was the formation of a number of resistance groups; the Colombian army launched a campaign against "communist farmers."
Image: Public Domain
FARC and ELN
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) were founded in 1964. The former wanted to break up the monopoly of land ownership, whereas the ELN formed out of a radical student movement and ideas of liberation theologians such as Camilo Torres (photo). The Colombian government fought both groups with the support the United States.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Paramilitary groups
The conflict deepened in the 1980s with the introduction of right-wing paramilitary groups in the service of the landowners against FARC. Both sides were closely linked to drug cartels. Four presidential candidates and countless left-wing politicians were murdered by paramilitaries between 1986 and 1990.
Image: Carlos Villalon/Liaison/Getty Images
Ingrid Betancourt kidnapped
In February 2002, the government cut off peace negotiations with FARC after guerrillas hijacked a domestic flight. Days later, the rebels struck again, kidnapping presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Alvaro Uribe went on to win the election that May and escalated military operations against FARC, ruling out further negotiations. He was re-elected in 2007. Betancourt was released in 2008.
Image: AFP/Getty Images
Peace talks begin
Juan Manuel Santos was elected president in 2010. Two years later, a law concerning compensation for victims of violence and the return of land came into effect. Peace talks between the government (photo) and FARC officially began that November.
Image: Reuters
Ceasefire
At midnight on August 29, 2016, the permanent ceasefire came into force. "A new chapter in Colombia's history begins on August 29," Santos wrote on Twitter. "We have silenced the weapons. The war with FARC is over!"
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Legaria
Peace deal with FARC
On September 26, 2016, President Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, a.k.a. Timochenko, signed the peace treaty, ending the 52-year-old conflict. The signing took place in Cartagena and was attended by 2,500 people.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Vergara
Setback
Distrust in FARC manifested itself in a pre-referendum campaign against the peace treaty, led by the conservative ex-president Alvaro Uribe. To the surprise of many observers, a thin majority of Colombians voted to reject the deal on October 2, 2016.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/I. Valencia
Peace Prize for Santos
The international community threw its support behind the treaty's supporters. Just five days after it was rejected in a referendum, Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The ceremony took place in Oslo in December 2016.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Schwarz
Parliamentary ratification
Colombia's parliament ratified the peace treaty on November 30, 2016, following a list of changes to the deal's original language.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Legaria
Disarmament
FARC rebels gave up their weapons in three phases. On June 27, 2017, at the end of the UN-controlled disarmament process, Santos wrote: "For me and all Colombians, today is a special day. It's a day when weapons were exchanged for words."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/A. Piñeros
The new FARC
The now disarmed, former rebel group chose to renew itself as a political party and disavow violence during a convention on August 27, 2017. The guerrilla's founder, Rodrigo Londono (photo), was elected the new party's head. He was unable to run for president, however, due to his poor health.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Vergara
FARC at the polls
For the first time since the end of the armed conflict, FARC put up its members as candidates in the parliamentary election, which took place on March 11, 2018. The party received just 50,000 votes, but secured five seats in the senate and lower house of parliament, respectively, as guaranteed by the peace treaty. The conservative party of former President Uribe won the election.
