Colombia presidential election: Colombian voters chose a leftist former rebel and an outsider populist businessman to advance to a runoff election in June, hoping that a new face will be able to bring them out of the economic wreckage caused by the virus.

Leftist Sen. Gustavo Petro led the field of six candidates with slightly more than 40% of the vote on Sunday, while real estate billionaire Rodolfo Hernández, who has no affiliations to any political party, finished second with more than 28%, according to election officials.

Both are far from the conservatives and moderates who have traditionally ruled South America.

Petro, the campaign’s front-runner, might become Colombia’s first president from the left, which has been ostracised for years due to its perceived association with the country’s violent conflict. Many have linked Hernández’s performance to that of former US President Donald Trump because of his anti-establishment stance.

They will square off on June 19 in the same politicised environment and growing unhappiness over rising inequality and inflation that marked the first round of the election. In the first round, a candidate needed 50% of the vote to win outright.

In Latin America, there has been a string of leftist political triumphs as people want change amid economic hardship. Chile, Peru, and Honduras elected leftist presidents in 2021, and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva leads polling in Brazil for this year’s presidential election. In 2018, Mexico elected a leftist president.

Looking at some of Colombia’s most traditional heartland departments where Hernández won,  “the rejection of the status quo even among many of the most conservative Colombians … really does show a disgust with the traditional workings of Colombian politics,” said Adam Isacson, a Colombia expert at the Washington Office on Latin America think tank.

For the most of the campaign, Petro’s main opponent was Federico Gutierrez, a former Medellin mayor who was seen as the continuity candidate and ran on a pro-business, economic growth platform. However, Hernández began to surge in recent surveys leading up to the election.

Petro has pledged big economic changes, including tax reform, as well as changes in how Colombia combats drug cartels and other violent groups. Hernández has little political party connections and wants to cut unnecessary government spending and reward citizens who denounce corrupt authorities.

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