BOGOTÁ – It was a joyous night for the far left political party in Colombia on Sunday.
For the first time ever, under the banner of Gustavo Petro, the party appears to be on track to take significant power in the country, winning more seats than any other party in the Congress.
Petro himself won more than two-million votes than any other candidate in his presidential primary.
The right-wing presidential candidates, Federico Gutiérrez, and political center presidential candidates, Sergio Fajardo, obtained 2.1 million and 723,000 votes, respectively. Fajardo suffered big losses.
The election revealed vast polarization in the country, shaping up to be a far-right against far-left battle.
“So these results were shocking. And people from the center and candidates from the center, I think that they are having a hard time today,” Silvia Otero, Political Scientist.
But with momentum and enthusiasm clearly on the side of the left, the question remains, can Petro be stopped.
Political scientist Mauricio Jaramillo says he wants the state to intervene much more in the economy. They want more progressive taxes and taxes on the biggest fortunes.
“On one hand, Petro is running on a platform of transforming the nature of the Colombian economy, so that it relies less on the exports of oil,” said Otero.
Although some of the proposals like ending oil exploration or intervention in the central bank have spooked his opponents, analysts like Jaramillo say it is too early for comparisons with other leftist Latin American leaders like Nicolas Maduro.
Colombians will go to the polls for the first round of presidential elections on May 29. And there’s now real hope among Petro’s supporters that he could win in the first round. To do so, he would need 50% of the vote.
In addition to Petro, Fajardo and Gutiérrez, Íngrid Betancourt, who was kidnapped by the FARC and relaunched herself into politics with her Green Oxygen party, continues in the electoral race.