Rodrigo Londoño, leader of @PartidoFARC casts his ballot in Colombia's regional elections, being held today. EleccionesColombia. Telesur
The outcome reveals the overwhelming defeat of the right-wing Democratic Center party led by former far-right president Alvaro Uribe.
The Colombian National Registry announced the results of the local and regional elections held Sunday with the center-left obtaining big wins across the country.
The outcome reveals the overwhelming defeat of the right-wing Democratic Center party led by former far-right president Alvaro Uribe. The party lost the main cities of Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla, Medellin, and Cucuta.
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Center-left Claudia Lopez, 49, stood out in these elections after she won the capital Bogota with 35.2 percent of the votes. Lopez, a symbol of the fight against corruption in the South American country, becomes the first woman and the first openly gay candidate to be elected mayor of the country’s capital.
The new and first female Mayor from Bogota, Colombia and her girlfriend celebrating victory after the elections. #LoveIsLove pic.twitter.com/SpBro7gYBr
— Cocytus (@Kounikishi) October 28, 2019
“Thanks to the young people, to the women and the families, like mine! Not only did we win but we’re changing history!” Lopez said in her twitter account.
While in the northwestern city of Turbaco, ex-FARC combatant Guillermo Torres, known as Julian Conrado, won the mayoral race with 50.2 of the votes.
Progressive candidates are also winning tonight in the local elections in Colombia. The paramilitary right-wing party Centro Democrático, headed by US darling former president and drug trafficker Alvaro Uribe @AlvaroUribeVel is the big loser.
— gabriel (@gabriel67891734) October 28, 2019
Center-left Jorge Ivan Ospina in the city of Cali with 37.9 percent, right-wing Jairo Tomas Yañes won in Cucuta with 34.2 percent, and independent candidate Daniel Quintero with 38.2 percent in Medellin, which Uribe’s party historically stronghold.
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In the most economically dynamic departments, the chosen governors are center-left Carlos Caicedo with 60.3 percent of the votes in Magdalena, centrist Anibal Gaviria with 35 percent in Antioquia, right-wing Elsa Noguera who obtained 66.3 percent in the Atlantic and right-wing Clara Roldan with 55.9 in the Valle del Cauca.
According to the Electoral Observation Movement, 208 cases of irregularities were recorded during the day, as well as the detention of 80 people who allegedly participated in corruption events.
Very bad night for center-right Duque in Colombia’s regional elections. If center-left presidential candidates win tonight in Argentina and Uruguay, it’s fair to say that rise of center-right (and far-right) candidates in Latam has fizzled out. Ahead: ideological fragmentation.
— Oliver Stuenkel (@OliverStuenkel) October 27, 2019
The elections were beset by violence in more than a quarter of municipalities, the electoral mission observatory said.
Former left-wing guerrilla FARC, who became a political party in the historic 2016 peace accord that ended more than 50 years of armed rebellion, participated in elections for the second time.
Featured image: Rodrigo Londoño, leader of @PartidoFARC casts his ballot in Colombia’s regional elections, being held today. EleccionesColombia. Telesur
Source URL: Telesur English with OT content
