Colombia – Presidential Election: No televised debate between the two candidates

Colombian businessman and presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernandez has ruled out taking part in a televised debate with his second-round rival, left-wing senator Gustavo Petro, despite a court ruling.

“I deny any possibility of carrying out the order” of a court, the validity of which expired last Friday, Mr. Hernandez said on Thursday night (local time; yesterday morning Greek time) through social networking sites, assuring that he tried to comply.

Earlier, the 77-year-old real estate mogul, who surprised the first round by taking second place, set conditions for the telematch to take place, especially in Bucaramanga, a large city in the north where he was mayor from 2016 to 2019.

His opponent accepted the terms almost immediately. “I do not set any conditions for this debate. None. I leave all the details in the hands of the Public Media System (RTVC) “said in an open letter Mr. Petros, who won the first round with 40% of the votes.

Mr. Petros “showed that he preferred to ignore the specific court order”, to use the issue as a “communication trick”, Mr. Hernandez claimed for his part.

A court in Bogota on Wednesday ordered a televised debate between the two candidates in the second round of the presidential election until yesterday, Friday, following a appeal by a group of lawyers close to Mr. Petros.

Since the start of the election campaign, Mr. Hernandez has systematically avoided taking part in any telematch.

The real estate mogul, who based his entire election campaign on his promise to fight corruption, addresses his fellow citizens mainly through social networking sites. Gustavo Petro has been calling him incessantly for the last few days to agree to talk face to face.

The 77-year-old eccentric businessman, without crystallized ideology or party, and the 62-year-old senator, a former rebel who turned into a Social Democrat, will go to the polls in a head-to-head battle in tomorrow’s second round of elections.