Colombia is heading to a presidential runoff between leftist former guerrilla Gustavo Petro and anti-establishment outsider Rodolfo Hernandez who defied polls to defeat a conservative candidate backed by traditional parties.
Petro received 40% of the votes Sunday against 28% for Hernandez, according to the electoral authorities. Federico Gutierrez, who was second in polls for months but saw his campaign stall in the final stretch, got 24%.
“Today, the country of dirty politics and corruption lost,” Hernandez said, speaking in an online video stream from his kitchen in the provincial city of Bucaramanga.
