Colombians choose direction in violence-torn country

TT

Updated 16.50 | Published 16.49

 

Businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella is one of the main candidates in Colombia's presidential election. Photo: Ivan Valencia/AP/TT

Colombians will vote on Sunday to elect a new president.

The election is largely a choice of direction for how to break the country's drug-fueled cycles of violence.

Above all, it is about three candidates.

Left-wing senator Iván Cepeda is leading in opinion polls ahead of the election. He is an ally of outgoing President Gustavo Petro and has promised to continue his efforts to achieve peace with the country's remaining guerrilla and rebel groups.

Opposing Cepeda are right-wing candidates, lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and conservative senator Paloma Valencia.

Both have promised a tougher, more aggressive line against rebels, drug cartels and other criminals. They are both outspoken supporters of US President Donald Trump.

The election is largely a vote on Petro's peace policy, which has failed to tame, among other things, the groups that refused to lay down their arms in connection with the peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas in 2016.

On the contrary, critics and experts believe that criminals and guerrillas have exploited the power vacuum and peace attempts to advance their positions. Recent years have been marked by car bombs, political assassinations, extortion and rampant drug trafficking.

At the same time, Petros' four years in power have resulted in, for example, higher employment and minimum wages - also a direction that Cepeda intends to continue.

If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote on Sunday, which is unlikely, the top two will meet in a second round on June 21.