The political situation in Colombia

Colombia faces a choice – may abandon peace plans

During the day, Colombians go to vote between two presidential candidates who are far apart. The election will be decisive for which path the country will take against the violence, writes The Guardian.

On one side stands the right-wing millionaire and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella, who has promised to abandon the peace plans of incumbent President Gustavo Petros, and instead aim for a full-scale military confrontation against the armed groups.

On the other side stands the left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda, who wants to continue to maintain the peace, but with “necessary changes”.

Cepeda led early in opinion polls, but lost the first round of elections at the end of May and has had difficulty turning the numbers around.

World Cup fans could be decisive in the election in Colombia

Both sides in the even Colombian presidential election are worried that the World Cup, which has attracted around 80,000 Colombians to North America, will affect the election result. This is reported by El País.

In the first round of the election, the right-wing candidate Abelardo de la Espriella received around 630,000 votes by a margin, which is not seen as a guarantee, the newspaper writes. At the same time, three million voted for candidates other than the two main ones and four hundred thousand voted blank.

In the 2022 election, 1.2 million more voted in the second round of the election, which was decisive for Gustavo Petro, who has been president since then. Something that means that the left-wing candidate Iván Cepeda still hopes to win.