Gustavo Petro has 50.8% of the vote, compared to 46.9% for his rival, real estate tycoon Rodolfo Hernandez.
Senator Gustavo Petro, the Colombian left-wing candidate for the presidency of Colombia, is the winner of the second round of elections held Sunday, according to official results with 89.4% of the ballots cast.
Mr Petro received 50.8% of the vote, compared to 46.9% for his rival, real estate tycoon Rodolfo Hernandez, according to the Colombian National Election Commission. The difference between the candidates is 797,973 votes.
About 20 million voters took part in the process in the Latin American country.
Rodolfo Hernandez stated that he “accepts” his defeat
Colombian eccentric real estate businessman Rodolfo Hernandez announced that he “accepts” his defeat.
“Colombians, today (yesterday Sunday) the majority of citizens chose the other candidate. “As I said during my campaign, I accept the result of this election,” Mr Hernandez said in a video uploaded by his team to social media sites.
Mr. Hernandez, without a party or a crystallized ideology, calling himself “the king of Tik Tok”, referring to the social networking platform of the same name, ran an unconventional election campaign, promising to end “corruption” and “bureaucracy.” He has repeatedly canceled media interviews, made few public appearances in the last ten days and virtually refused to take part in a televised battle with his opponent before the vote despite a court ruling. Instead, he continued to campaign through social networking sites.
