Colombia elections: Polls shut in first vote since FARC deal

Colombia’s historic presidential election is heading correct into a runoff vote, with correct-waft candidate Ivan Duque main the flee however failing to win the bulk important to capture outright.

With the wide majority of the votes counted, Duque – who led idea polls before Sunday’s election – used to be first with 39.1 %.

He’ll now face leftist candidate Gustavo Petro, who completed 2d with 25.1 %, in the 2d spherical of vote casting on June 17.

Outmoded Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo, a centre-left candidate, came 1/three with 23.eight %.

Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, reporting from the capital, Bogota, acknowledged the prospect of Duque finishing first in an election headed to a runoff vote used to be widely anticipated.

She added, alternatively, that the centre and centre-left had accomplished a long way greater than idea polls had speedy, pointing to Farjado’s greater-than-expected exhibiting in the election.

The winner of the 2d spherical will initiate up a four-365 days term in workplace from August onwards.

Around 36 million Colombians had been eligible to vote. The final of the elections is anticipated to form the design forward for a controversial 2016 peace deal between the government and FARC rebels.

‘Unparalleled feat’

Incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos, who gained the Nobel Peace Prize for ending a a long time-long conflict with FARC, used to be ineligible to flee for re-election having served the most two terms approved by Colombia’s structure.

He described the vote as the calmest and « most win » in the nation’s most stylish historical previous.

« Thus a long way no longer a single vote casting space has wanted to be moved for safety reasons … Or no longer it is been many a long time since that has came about, » he acknowledged in a televised take care of after casting his ballotin Bogota.

As long strains of voters amassed in polling stations all over Bogota on a cloudy day, Al Jazeera’s Newman acknowledged the election’s silent prerequisites marked « an remarkable feat and something that Colombians possess never seen » in most stylish times.

Casting his ballotin Bogota, Duque called Sunday « a genuinely special day for our nation ».

« I want a nation of legality, a fleshy-on battle in opposition to corruption, a nation the set peace can breathe through the land, » he acknowledged.

Ivan Duque called Sunday’s vote marked a ‘very special day for’ Colombia [Nacho Doce/Reuters]

Irregularity accusations

Within the flee-as a lot as the vote, Petro had accused officers of failing to take care of a vote casting machine glitch that he acknowledged would maybe consequence in fraud.

He reiterated those concerns on Sunday after casting his vote, urging residents to doc any irregularities with their phones.

His campaign additionally issued a statement alleging vote casting irregularities, along side votes pre-marked in favour of Duque. 

« Petro is claiming there is an effort below capacity to deprive him of victory by an adjustment of the electoral machine, » acknowledged Al Jazeera’s Newman.

« The [of the vote] will doubtless be wondered, especially if it is completely shut. »

Gustavo Petro solid his ballotin Bogota [Henry Romero/Reuters]

‘Colombians need peace’

The take care of FARC, pushed via by Santos in November 2016 after it used to be rejected in a referendum vote weeks earlier, dropped at an pause to the conflict which killed 220,000 folks and displaced nearly seven million.

The deal allowed FARC to rebrand as a political celebration – the Current Different Modern Power – and assured it 5 seats in every of the nation’s two chambers of parliament, in spite of vote fragment.

Many Colombians alternatively felt the settlement used to be too lenient on FARC by allowing its members to enter politics and steer certain of imprisonment and face diminished sentences for crimes committed through the conflict. 

Each and each Duque and Petro possess criticised the peace deal, with the feeble pledging to pass reforms undoing key aspects of the settlement and the latter alleging it has accomplished puny to originate lasting social reform.

Outmoded FARC stand up leader Rodrigo Londono voted for the first time [Carlos Julio Martinez/Reuters]

FARC did no longer field a candidate in the presidential election after leader Rodrigo Londono – typically called Timochenko – pulled out of the ballotdue to health complications.

After vote casting in elections for the first time, Londono told reporters in Bogota that nearly all of Colombians « need peace ».

« The invitation is for everyone to exercise this correct and to originate currently a day of reconciliation, » the leader of FARC additionally wrote on Facebook.