Colombia to vote for the presidential elections: it could be a historic turning to the left

to

protect the regularity and security of the vote.

Defense Minister

explained that the measure aims to achieve various objectives: to ensure that citizens can vote freely in all polling stations;

that the logistic activities of distribution of the material, the arrival and the acquisition of it by the staff of the seat, are accompanied by the security organizations;

that there is full protection of the candidates, not only before, but also during the day of the vote, and that even in the event of a second round there is maximum security.

The eventual second round will take place on

.

Polls on voting intentions show an advantage for

progressive front candidate of the

, the senator and former mayor of Bogota

, who today would win between 35 and 41 percent of the votes.

The candidate most in continuity with the management of the current resident Ivan Duque,

, former mayor of

, of the Coalicion Equipo por Colombia, would instead get between 20 and 30 percent of the votes.

Colombian

abroad, around 970,000 diaspora voters around the world, started voting on Monday.

According to the data released yesterday by the Foreign Ministry, tens of thousands have already expressed their preference: almost 13 thousand in Miami, almost 8 thousand in Madrid, about 3500 in New York, more than 3 thousand in London. 

The country has never completely emerged from the civil war which the peace agreements signed in 2016 between the state and the

nominally put an end to .

A different reality, however, is that which is recorded in the country if only in the first four months of 2022, according to data from the NGO Indepaz, an institute for development and peace born over 35 years ago, over 60 community leaders were killed, 12 in the last 30 days.

The candidates

After the resignation of

, former senator, leader of the Partido Verde

 and a very controversial figure in Colombia where she was kidnapped by the Farc guerrillas in 2002 and released after six years of imprisonment, there are six candidates in the presidential elections, all men .

With this election the presidency of

concludes , conservative and unpopular, who by law cannot be re-elected due to the limits of the mandate.

The big favorite is Gustavo Petro, head of the left-wing coalition of the 'Pacto historico', a

converted to social democracy, senator and former mayor of Bogota ', credited with 41% of the votes. 

Petro's most serious rival is Federico Gutierrez, as

as the outgoing head of state and former mayor of Medellin (North-West), who enjoys 27.1% of the votes.

In third place, rising to 20.9%, the independent candidate.

 The outsider

a 77-year-old businessman with a populist discourse, supported by the well-known heir and former Franco-Colombian candidate Ingrid Betancourt. 

Betancourt's centrist candidate and former ally,

, is far behind with 5.1% of voting intentions. 

HANDLE

Demonstration of Colombians for the elections

The election campaign

The appointment comes at a time when there are

in the country as a result of the pandemic but also of a strong recession, of widespread urban protests.

No less worrying are the increasing numbers of violence fueled by armed groups in the countryside. 

Colombians, at home and abroad, would like greater

and the dominant sentiment is that "the ruling elites are perpetuating a socio-economic system that favors a small minority".

The data and photographs of the situation in the area were analyzed by the

.

In the spring of 2021 Colombia, precisely because of the increase in poverty and inequality, was the scene of a national strike, the

, which saw severe repression by the police. 

Also "International Crisis Group" describes an electoral campaign of strong tensions and divisions between the right in power and the left: "The two

were protagonists of a fierce struggle, mirroring the deep political rift of society". 

Gustavo Petro, in his

to reach the presidency, was able to capitalize on the thirst for "change" which he became the standard-bearer during the electoral campaign.

"Sunday will change the history of Colombia" promised the left-wing candidate, 62, in contention with Francia Marquez, Afro-Colombian, aspiring vice president.

Petro-Marquez, the duo of the 'Pacto Historico' coalition, who reached the top of the March legislatures, pledged to "restore dignity to the people", promising more social justice, return to peace, environmental transition, fight against "the economy predator "and against"

.   

On the contrary, the conservative Gutierrez, 47, presented himself as the defender of

wearing jeans, sneakers, long hair and often disheveled.

His commitment is to restore more order and security, denouncing the hate speech spread by a left still united with the communist scarecrow.

Gutierrez, called

by his supporters, did everything to distance himself from the outgoing president Duque and from the Democratic Center of the former head of state Alvaro Uribe, in office from 2002 to 2010, involved in legal proceedings. 

"Try to take advantage of Petro's deep fear in some Colombians who are terrified that Colombia could become a new Venezuela," notes

of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

As mayor of Medellin, the capital of drug trafficking, Gutierrez did not hesitate to get caught on camera while he chased down criminals with police officers. 

Danger and insecurity in Colombia are central themes of the presidential campaign in a country where political and non-political violence reaches very high levels: the homicide rate is about

, about 14 thousand victims every year, against 6 per 100,000 in the United States.

After receiving death threats, candidates Petro and Marquez speak in public only behind a barrier of armored shields, but rival 'Fico' has also been subjected to political violence. 

The Election Observation Mission - a coalition of local NGOs - has sounded the alarm for the danger of a resurgence in the activity of armed groups during the electoral period.

In fact, at the beginning of May the powerful cartel of

imposed a sensational "armed strike" on the rural populations of the North, in protest of the extradition of their leader

to the US .