Who are the candidates competing for the Presidency of Colombia this Sunday, May 29?

These are the biographies of the six candidates to win the presidency of Colombia next May 29. In the event that no candidate obtains half plus one of the total votes, a second round will be called on June 19 in which the two with the highest number of votes will compete.

GUSTAVO PETRO

Gustavo Petro is the favorite to win the elections on Sunday May 29 in Colombia, but he would not avoid the second round. (JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP).

A guerrilla member of the April 19 Movement in his youth, he laid down his arms in 1990 after signing a peace agreement. In legality he was a congressman and denounced links between paramilitaries and politicians. He was then mayor of Bogotá between 2012 and 2015, and although he was dismissed by the attorney for alleged irregularities, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights agreed with Petro and found Colombia responsible for violating his political rights by dismissing him. He has run for the presidency three times and in 2018 he was close to winning it in the second round, but was defeated by Iván Duque. At 62 years old, he is the candidate of the left for the Historical Pact Coalition, he proposes to help the most vulnerable with subsidies, jobs in the State and “democratize” resources. He would promote pension reforms.

LOOK: Who is Fico Gutiérrez, the right-wing candidate who seeks to prevent the left from coming to power in Colombia

FEDERICO GUTIERREZ

Fico Gutierrez. (EFE/ Mauricio Dueñas Castañeda).

A civil engineer by profession, he entered politics at a very young age two decades ago as a councilor in his native Medellin for two terms. He was then elected mayor of that city between 2016 and 2019. At 48, he is the youngest candidate in the current presidential campaign and preferred to obtain the greatest support in the right-wing coalition, made up of traditional parties, after competing in the presidential primaries. He promises to strengthen security, combat drug trafficking and combat armed illegal groups, including dissidents from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who signed a peace agreement with the state in 2016.

LOOK: Who is the engineer Rodolfo Hernández, the millionaire “tropical Trump” turned into the outsider in Colombia

RODOLFO HERNANDEZ

Independent presidential candidate Rodolfo Hernández speaks during his visit to Piedecuesta, Colombia. (EFE / Marco Valencia).

A businessman in the construction sector, he entered politics only in 2016 when he won the mayoralty of Bucaramanga, in the northeast of the country, in a campaign without the support of traditional politicians. He gained national notoriety after physically assaulting a councilman who criticized him. At 77 years old, he seeks the presidency with his own movement, the League of Anti-Corruption Governors, which is based precisely on fighting against the corrupt, whom they promise to punish with exemplary sanctions. His campaign has been austere, as he says his government would be. He did not use acts in public squares and based a large part of his strategy on social networks. His motto is “do not steal, do not lie, do not betray”.

SERGIO FAJARDO

Colombian presidential candidate for the Hope Center Coalition, Sergio Fajardo, delivers a speech during a rally in Medellin, Colombia, on May 3, 2022. (JOAQUIN SARMIENTO / AFP).

Professor and doctor in Mathematics, he entered politics two decades ago and was mayor of his hometown Medellin and later governor of Antioquia. He tried to be president in 2018, but he did not prefer to go to the second round due to a difference of about 200,000 votes with whom he was in second place, Gustavo Petro. In a new attempt at 65 years old, in the current contest, he is the candidate of the Hope Center Coalition that brings together political parties and center leaders. With a moderate speech and against polarization, he proposes promoting education, combating corruption, creating a Ministry for Women and continuing to fully implement the peace agreement signed with the FARC.

JOHN MILTON RODRIGUEZ

Colombian presidential candidate John Milton Rodríguez speaks during a presidential debate in Cali, Colombia, on April 24, 2022. (Paola MAFLA / AFP).

Senator since 2018 and current candidate for the Colombia Justa Libres Christian party, of which he is a co-founder. He is an Industrial Engineer by profession and has dedicated his life to a Christian church called Mission Peace to the Nations that he founded together with his wife, also a pastor, Norma Stella Ruiz. Rodríguez, 52, defends “family values”, opposes the legalization of drugs and is against euthanasia and abortion, which are allowed in Colombia. Rodríguez is one of the promoters of a referendum against abortion, promoted after the Constitutional Court decriminalized it until the 24th week of pregnancy in February of this year.

ENRIQUE GOMEZ

Colombian presidential candidate Enrique Gómez speaks during a presidential debate in Cali, Colombia, on April 24, 2022. (Paola MAFLA / AFP).

He is a lawyer and businessman descended from a family of Colombian conservative politicians. His grandfather Laureano Gómez was president of the Republic between 1950 and 1951. Enrique Gómez, 53, ran for the presidency for the conservative National Salvation Movement party, founded by his uncle Álvaro Gómez Hurtado, a politician assassinated in an attack in 1995. The candidate defends private property, the market and proposes to reform justice through a national constituent assembly.

Source: Elcomercio