Senator Gustavo Petro prevails without surprise with almost 80% of the votes in the presidential consultation of the Historical Pact coalition, thus becoming a candidate for the Presidency of Colombia for that left-wing group.
With 45.45% of the votes counted, Petro sweeps the left poll with more than 1.79 million votes (79.64%), while the social leader Francia Márquez, another of the most recognized faces of the coalition, is in second place with 14.72% and 332,000 votes.
In third place is Camilo Romero with 4.33% and more than 97,000 votes, followed by Arelis Uriana with 0.91% and Alfredo Saade with 0.38%, according to data from the National Registry, organizer of the elections.
Despite the fact that a little more than half of the votes cast today remain to be scrutinized, Petro’s tendency and the enormous advantage he takes over his rivals make him unattainable in this consultation, with which he will contest the Presidency on May 29 as Historical Pact candidate.
The result comes without too many surprises, after the polls of recent weeks not only gave victory to Petro in the consultation on the left, but also placed him at the head of the race for the House of Nariño, which will definitely start this Monday.
“Thank you Colombia for supporting the Historical Pact. Today the change begins, I love you and I love you very much, “said Petro, former mayor of Bogotá, in a first comment on Twitter as the vote count progressed.
This is the third time that Petro has aspired to the presidency of Colombia, after 2010, when Juan Manuel Santos prevailed, and 2018 when he was defeated in the second round by the current president, Iván Duque.
During the last legislature, Petro held a seat in the Senate, which he accessed for the first time in 2006, and founded the Colombia Humana political movement.
This Sunday, Colombians chose the new composition of the Senate and the House of Representatives, as well as the candidates for the Presidency of three center, left and right coalitions, in a kind of primaries.
The citizens of the rural areas hardest hit by the conflict were also able to choose the 16 representatives of the victims in the Lower House, the so-called “peace seats.”