Petro tries to scratch support from the center and greens before the Colombian elections

The left-wing candidate Gustavo Petrofavorite to win the presidential elections in Colombia, tries to get support from other parties and political signs ahead of the last week and his goal of winning in the first round on May 29.

This Monday he added to his candidacy Luis Ernesto Gómez, former Secretary of Government of the Bogotá Mayor’s Office who resigned this weekend after saying that “Colombia is, once again, at a crossroads” and that “the coherence” led him to make that decision.

Look: How is Gustavo Petro’s strategy to scare fears to the left in Colombia

“Four years ago, in the second presidential round, I accompanied Gustavo Petro with the conviction that we cannot tear peace to shreds”assured Gómez in an announcement with the left-wing candidate, in which he assured that now that “it is clear that the war returned” joins first round.

Gómez was one of the strong men of the mayor of Bogotá, Claudia López, who has been one of the fierce critics of Petrosince due to his training he supports the centrist candidate, Sergio Fajardo, although he cannot do so implicitly because Colombian law prohibits any elected official from expressing his electoral favoritism.

SCRATCH THE CENTER

Together with Gómez, they have joined the candidacy of the Historical Pact “two of the largest votes in the country”, as he defined them Petrothe congressmen elected by the Green Alliance on March 13 Catherine Juvinao and Duvalier Sánchez.

This again dramatizes the fracture of the green movement in the country, of which a part joined from the beginning of the presidential race by the former governor of Nariño Camilo Romero, who concurred against Petro in party consultations and continues to support it.

The rest of the green movement is in the Hope Center Coalition, whose candidate is Sergio Fajardo, who currently barely collects 5% of the intention of votes in the polls.

Fajardo, who came third in the list in 2018 and who was criticized for not opting for any candidate, although he shares many of the social and peace proposals with Petro.

Petrowhom the latest Invamer poll places him 13 points above the second, Federico Gutiérrez, tries on this occasion to show a more open proposal, leaving his ideological position more to the left and where more forces fit in order to be elected president in the first round next Sunday, a feat that has only been achieved by his nemesis, Álvaro Uribe, on the two occasions in which he ran, 2002 and 2006.

In this sense, at the beginning of his career he tried to win the favor of former president César Gaviria, president of the Liberal Party, who finally ended up supporting his right-wing rival “Fico” Gutiérrez, although once again part of the “liberals” are determined and from the campaign assure that almost all the bases of this traditional party support Petro.

Another of the candidate’s star signings was the appointment of Alfonso Prada as head of the debate, since he was the secretary of the Presidency of former President Juan Manuel Santos, which was seen as a gesture of support from “Sanctism”, although the former president did not has yet been spoken.

Petro He has also obtained support from sectors more inclined to the left, such as the Fecode teachers’ union and, as now with the Mayor’s Office of Bogotá, in Medellín, one of the right-wing Uribe strongholds, some senior officials have also resigned to join his campaign.

In fact, the mayor of Medellín, Daniel Quintero, was suspended by the Attorney General’s Office a few weeks ago after allegedly having pronounced himself in favor of Petroby posting a message on their social networks asking for “change first”.

Petro He could manage to be the first left-wing president in Colombia and that option is being played against “Fico” Gutiérrez, former mayor of Medellín and candidate of the Team for Colombia, and against the populist Rodolfo Hernández, who has risen notably in recent polls.

Source: Elcomercio

Deshawn