Leftist former guerrilla secures comfortable lead in first round of Colombian presidential elections

Colombia’s leftist presidential candidate secured a comfortable lead in the first round of the South American country’s presidential election on Sunday and will now face businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in a second round vote on June 19.

On Sunday, the 62-year-old populist senator and former M-19 guerrilla fighter garnered 40.8% of the vote, establishing a comfortable lead over business giant Rodolfo Hernandez, who earned 28.2% of the vote. Third-place candidate Federico Gutierrez – who was expected to face off against Petro in the runoff – has already backed Hernandez and many of his supporters are expected to back the magnate over Petro next month.  

Gustavo Petro: 40.8%

Rodolfo Hernández: 28.2%

Federico Gutiérrez: 23.9%

Sergio Fajardo: 4.22%

Petro is an open sympathizer of the Cuban and Venezuelan regimes, and an admirer of established Marxists such as the American Bernie Sanders. He was a member of the Castro-backed M-19 guerrillas and based his campaign on an anti-capitalist agenda focused on changing the country's financial structure and shifting the focus of the fight against drug trafficking.

Hernández, on the other hand, is a successful real estate magnate, who based his campaign on the promise that he would purge the country of corruption, donate his salary and improve the living conditions of Colombians.

In the days leading up to the first round elections, polls showed Hernandez would trail Petro by a few points in a hypothetical runoff election – but the results were welcome news for the leftist leader, Al Jazeera reported.

“What’s not in doubt today is change,” Petro told cheering supporters in central Bogota. “Now it’s about seeing what we will do with Colombia, what Colombian society wants for its own country.”

Since hitting the campaign trail, Petro has activated Colombia’s struggling middle class by promising to tackle income inequality. Investors, however, have warned that his plan to redistribute pension savings and his pledge to half new energy projects could put the South American country’s economic performance at risk, Reuters reported.

According to the leftist lawmaker, his would-be administration "is not a minority oligarchy governing Colombia, it's a multicolor democracy. We cannot allow it to slip between our fingers."

Similarly, Petro has pledged low-cost loans for small businesses, free public university education, a redistribution of pensions and a shift away from anti-narco policies towards a green agenda.

Petro’s guerrilla past has left many voters concerned that the traditionally conservative South American country could follow the lead of neighboring Venezuela, however. In fact, his 2011 election as mayor of the country’s capital, Bogota, was seen by many as a sign that rebel movements might soon gain political power once again.

On Friday, Petro took to Twitter to report that he received an endorsement from the infamous Marxist philosopher Slavoj Žižek.

In a Spanish language video posted to Twitter, the Slovenian philosopher urged Colombians to vote for Gustavo Petro during Sunday’s first-round presidential elections.

Agradezco el apoyo del filósofo Slavoj Žižek, quien invita a votar por nuestra campaña presidencial y resalta nuestro programa de gobierno. pic.twitter.com/TUF1Jd5ExR

— Gustavo Petro (@petrogustavo) May 27, 2022

"My name is Slavoj Žižek and I am addressing you from the other side of the world. I ask all of you to vote for Gustavo Petro, not only for what he could do for Colombia, but for the whole world,” the philosopher said, adding that the leftist candidate represents “the change we all know is necessary.”

“Petro promises action. To paraphrase Gandhi, Petro is the change that we all know is necessary. He unites a platform of principles with a pragmatic spirit. We should not fear that his policies could bring chaos. In fact, the only thing we should fear is the fear propagated by those who do not want real change.”

“I implore you to recognize that a vote for Petro is the vote for all of you. Not only will Petro bring you a higher standard of living, but also a better, different quality of life,” he added.

Žižek is a Slovenian cultural theorist and philosopher who has gained infamy amongst proponents of open societies for his bold opinions, controversial theories and dangerous spin on mainstream progressive issues through a Marxist lens. Furthermore, Žižek has consistently over the years attempted to discredit, mock and disprove the theories of Capitalism, arguing instead that Capitalism is neither natural nor inevitable.

“Liberal democracy - as you know, in the old days, we were saying we want socialism with a human face. Today's left effectively offers global capitalism with a human face, more tolerance, more rights and so on. So, the question is, is this enough or not? Here I remain a Marxist: I think not,” he once wrote.