(CNN Spanish) — Gustavo Petro leads, by far, the preferences for Colombian presidential election to be held on Sunday May 29, according to recent polls.
The Great Survey of May, carried out by the firm Yanhaas on behalf of RCN Radio, RCN Television and the newspaper La República, assigns 40% of voting intentions to Petro, the leftist candidate who is running with France Marquez as a running mate.
Petro, candidate of the Historical Pact, is also in the first place in the weighting of polls made by the local media La Silla Vacía, which brings together various queries and makes an average taking into account the assessment of each pollster, as explained here. In the most recent update, Petro has 38% of the support for the elections.
In second place in the Yanhaas query, which has a margin of error of 3.2%, is the right-wing candidate ‘Fico’ Gutierrezformer mayor of Medellín, with 21%.
The survey was conducted between April 30 and May 7, and showed that 13% would vote blank, then placing the candidates Rodolfo Hernandez with 12% and Sergio Fajardo with 7% support.
Meanwhile, in La Silla Vacía’s weight, Gutiérrez also occupies second place with 24% support.
Hernández is in third place with 12% and the blank vote is fourth in line with 10%. Fajardo’s support, meanwhile, is at 7%, the same percentage as Yanhaas’ most recent query.
Petro, leader in the polls in Colombia for months
Petro’s solid position as the favorite is not new: the La Silla weighting shows that since February it has led the preferences of Colombians, and in particular from the March cross-party consultationsalthough his support has increased compared to the figures for that month.
Gutierrez, meanwhile, has risen sharply since February, when he trailed Hernandez and Fajardo in the polls.
In addition to the aforementioned candidates, four other formulas with less support so far will participate in the election.
How a possible second round is shaping up
If in the first round none of the candidates obtains a simple majority (half plus one) of the valid votes, as the polls suggest, a second round will be held on June 19 with the two candidates with the most votes.
The current photo indicates that Petro and Gutiérrez would face each other in those elections.
This is the third attempt to reach the presidency by Petro, who defines himself as a leader of “progressive” left in a highly traditional and right-wing country.
piggyback the burden of having been a member of a guerrilla group that led to one of the worst tragedies in the country’s history, the taking of the Palace of Justice (despite not having participated directly), but at the same time being one of the most important political leaders in the recent history of the Latin American nation .
“Fico” Gutiérrez, meanwhile, positioned himself as the right-wing candidate after a victory among five pre-candidates from the Team for Colombia coalition. The former mayor of Medellín, who is the youngest candidate in these elections, has presented himself as the nemesis of Gustavo Petro. Gutiérrez obtained the support of the traditional Conservative and Liberal parties, as well as the Partido de la U and implicitly from the Democratic Center, the current government party: the pre-candidate of that group, Óscar Iván Zuluaga, resigned in March and decided to support Gutiérrez.
Gutiérrez’s speech has focused on “preserve democracy and freedoms“, as well as security, and has criticized Petro for considering that he has a “populist and authoritarian project”.
The winner of the elections – for which almost 39 million citizens are called – will be the successor of Iván Duque and will take office on August 7, 2022.