Colombia’s Presidential Election Is Turning the Page on the FARC Peace Deal

Colombia’s Presidential Election Is Turning the Page on the FARC Peace Deal
A supporter of Gustavo Petro, the ex-mayor of Bogota who came in second in the first round of the presidential race, attends a campaign rally, Bogota, Colombia, May 17, 2018 (AP photo by Ivan Valencia).

In the first round of Colombia’s presidential election on May 27, Gustavo Petro, the ex-mayor of Bogota, won 25 percent of the votes cast, setting the stage for him to face off against Ivan Duque, a senator and former official of the Inter-American Development Bank who secured 39 percent.

Their respective results make Duque—who is running as the candidate of the Democratic Center, the right-wing party that is most critical of the 2016 peace agreement with FARC guerrillas—the clear favorite to win in the June 17 runoff.

But despite the fact that Petro can all but rule out taking office in August, the mood in his camp was celebratory: Petro barely beat center-left candidate Sergio Fajardo for the run-off ballot by a narrow margin of 1.35 percent, making him the first-ever left-wing candidate to reach the second round.

Keep reading for free!

Get instant access to the rest of this article by submitting your email address below. You'll also get access to three articles of your choice each month and our free newsletter:

Or, Subscribe now to get full access.

Already a subscriber? Log in here .

What you’ll get with an All-Access subscription to World Politics Review:

A WPR subscription is like no other resource — it’s like having a personal curator and expert analyst of global affairs news. Subscribe now, and you’ll get:

  • Immediate and instant access to the full searchable library of tens of thousands of articles.
  • Daily articles with original analysis, written by leading topic experts, delivered to you every weekday.
  • Regular in-depth articles with deep dives into important issues and countries.
  • The Daily Review email, with our take on the day’s most important news, the latest WPR analysis, what’s on our radar, and more.
  • The Weekly Review email, with quick summaries of the week’s most important coverage, and what’s to come.
  • Completely ad-free reading.

And all of this is available to you when you subscribe today.

More World Politics Review