Petro and Hernández measure their forces in the streets a week after elections in Colombia

One week before the second and final round of the elections in Colombiathe supporters of the presidential candidates Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernández took to the streets to show their support at the close of the public election campaign, although without the expected turnout.

The calls expected to be massive, but they have been diluted in the midst of an atypical electoral campaign in which one candidate, Hernández, has barely made public appearances and has refused to participate in debates, and the other, Petro, has set aside his public squares to hold smaller and more discreet events.

Look: Rodolfo Hernández: why did you decide to cancel your public activities until the day of the second round?

A group of feminists met in Bogotá to ask for a “change” led by Petro and his vice-presidential formula, the Afro-Colombian social leader Francia Márquez. Despite the inclement weather, a hundred women managed to meet in a community pot and in an event with a clear role for Márquez.

A similar call took place in Medellin, although with less success in terms of attendance.

For their part, the rodolfistas mobilized in a nationally convened caravan that had its largest influx in Bogotá, with some 40 cars that moved around the city with yellow and blue balloons to distinguish themselves from the Bogota traffic.

Next Sunday, June 19, Colombia will end its electoral cycle with the second round of the presidential elections, where Petro, a candidate from the leftist coalition of the Historical Pact, and Hernández, an independent populist from the League of Anti-Corruption Governors, will face off in the urns.

harangues to encourage the end

With speeches and videos by Francia Márquez, the women gathered in Bogotá also showed their rejection of Hernández, who has recently been at the center of controversy for his statements about women. “Down with Rodolfo who wants to have women in the house”, the feminists have sung, many wearing T-shirts or caps in support of Petro and Márquez.

Many banners and many green and purple scarves have also been around the necks of women who shouted “it’s a week before we take the votes to the polls” and have urged “not to give up”, mixed with feminist harangues to claim the role of women in government and in society.

In addition to different artistic displays, including a batucada, the concentration also included the participation of various groups, such as representatives of mothers of false positives and women from the Embera indigenous community.

With Colombian flags, music and a lot of political propaganda -caps, t-shirts and microperforations on the cars- the rodolfistas came out to finalize the campaign and show their support for the engineer, while trying to convince the undecided and the blank vote , in which the election will be at stake given the tightness of the polls.

Two goats accompanied the cars from which harangues from “Rodolfo, my president” were heard, and in which messages with the motto of the engineer’s campaign such as “Do not steal, do not lie, do not betray, 0% impunity” were displayed.

“Today we are here, all the followers of the engineer meet to defend democracy, to show that Bogotá does want to change, does want to fight the corrupt and make a radical change of government,” Rafael Carreño, a follower of Hernández, explained to Efe. .

THE LAST SURVEYS

The electoral contest is tighter than ever, with the latest polls showing a slight margin of difference between the two candidates, although the latest poll would point to a greater distance between the candidate of the Historical Pact and his rival.

In the survey, carried out by the firm Yanhaas for RCN Television, RCN Radio and the newspaper La República, Petro has 45% of the intention to vote, compared to 35% for Hernández. The data from this survey differs from that released by the survey on Friday, which pointed to a technical tie.

The Invamer survey for El Espectador, Noticias Caracol and Blu Radio shows an intention to vote for Hernández of 48.2%, while that of Petro is 47.2%.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.