Election day in Bogotá started with rain, which made Colombian voters start to go to the polls with more intensity from 9 am this Sunday (29), when the downpour already showed signs of going away. At the end of the morning it was already possible to find queues at polling places in the capital.
In the election that will define who will be the next president of Colombia, one of the most recent polls, by the Invamer institute, showed the leftist Gustavo Petro ahead in the first round, with 40.6%. If the prediction is confirmed, he will play in the second round with an opponent still uncertain, since the poll had the rightist Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez with 27.1% and the populist Rodolfo Hernández with 20.9%.
Despite the difference, unofficial polls, commissioned by the parties, suggested rapid growth for Hernández and a worsening trend for Fico. Even so, the data did not indicate a defined scenario, since the number of undecided people is around 15% and voting in the country is not mandatory.
“The trend of a vote for change is the hallmark of this election. Change so far was Petro, but it could become Hernández,” said Paola Montilla Niño, from Universidad Externado de Colombia.
One of the sections of the electorate that attract attention are young people, protagonists of the anti-government acts of 2021. Analysts indicate that they should turn out in greater numbers this Sunday, and, in the surroundings of a voting center in northern Bogotá, it was possible to see several of them, generally arriving in groups.
“Colombia cannot continue with the same type of government forever. I only left to vote because I want change. And if it doesn’t come through the polls, we have to go back to the streets,” said Juan Camilo Pulido, 20. Next to him, Valentina Cortés, 19, said he “doesn’t trust the voting system too much.” “I don’t know if change is coming, we need to think of new forms of democracy and of exercising our citizenship. But I came for change.”
For Mateo Ortiz, from the Youth Observatory of the Universidad Javeriana, despite there being “a certain mistrust in the voting system and enormous mistrust in the government, young people should go out to vote more numerously in this election.” “And I believe they will make a difference,” he said.
In another polling place, in northern Bogotá, Marisela Robledo, 58, said she was afraid of a radical change. “I don’t want uncertainties, I don’t want a Colombia that looks more and more like Venezuela. We see the impact of what is happening with this bunch of immigrants who arrive here lost, starting life over from scratch. I don’t see why taking risks” , he said, indicating that he will not vote for Petro, who could become the first leftist to assume the presidency of the country.
Fico is the candidate who has the support of the current president, Iván Duque, who is expected to leave office with more than 70% rejection. Petro, the favorite to succeed him, posted an image of a handwritten letter to the Colombian people on social media early on. “Today I trust my people. It’s time for trust, coexistence and the will to change. It’s time to make our dreams come true,” he wrote.
Upon arriving at the polling center, the leftist had to return home because he forgot his identity card. Finally, he ended up voting around 10:30. Fico already voted in Medellín, accompanied by his family. “Colombia is a big family and as a family we will solve our problems together.”
The former mayor of Bucaramanga, Rodolfo Hernández, when asked by journalists what he would do after voting, said: “Go back to my house and sleep”. The phrase matches the candidate’s populist profile, with short catchphrases, TikTok videos and flamboyant style – he even gave an interview to CNN in his pajamas. Then he completed it with a more usual quote. “Let’s not let people who refuse to vote stop us from changing Colombia. Encourage your family and friends to come vote.”
By late morning, there were queues at several polling centers, but no data on partial turnout had yet been released. The Colombian electoral pattern is 38 million voters.
