Colombians Head to the Polls to Elect New President in Run-Off Vote Between Duque and Petro

Colombians are heading to the polls today for the second and final round of the presidential election that will put either rightwing candidate Iván Duque or leftist Gustavo Petro in office.

Duque, the candidate of the Democratic Center party and protege of former President Álvaro Uribe, received nearly twice as many votes as Colombia Humana representative Petro.

The final polls released the week prior to the two-man runoff vote also showed Duque with more than 50% of the support and Petro trailing significantly. Many Colombians, displeased with some of the more extreme position of both men, have indicated they will fill out a blank ballot, or voto en blanco, rather than giving their vote to either.

Among the voto en blanco voters will be Sergio Fajardo, the former Medellín mayor who came in third, narrowly losing out to Petro, in the first round of the election, and Humberto de la Calle, the former vice president and peace negotiator, who placed fifth.

The two defeated, more-centrist candidates have both said they do not support Duque’s pledge to try to unravel key parts of the peace accord signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016 and the more socialist policies advocated by Petro.

The winner will take over the Casa de Nariño in August from outgoing, two-term President Juan Manuel Santos.