Colombia: Election Update

The second round of Colombia’s 2022 general election took place on 19 June. It was an historical election where Gustavo Petro, the candidate for the leftist Pacto Histórico coalition and a former guerrilla fighter, won the election with 50.5% of the votes against Rodolfo Hernández, a controversial candidate for the centre-right Anti-Corruption Rulers' League Party. Mr Petro will be Colombia’s first-ever left-wing leader and will have the first black vice-president, Francia Márquez, serving alongside him.

Petro’s administration face challenges including inequality and poverty amidst the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic; inflation exacerbated by war in Ukraine and increasing commodity prices; and the country's security situation, given a high homicide rate and the continuing illegal production of cocaine. In addition, renewed guerrilla violence has threatened the peace deal signed in 2016 that ended more than five decades of war between Colombia and the FARC.

On 21 June, Canning House hosted a discussion of Colombia’s 2022 general election, and the challenges and opportunities that the next administration will likely contend with.

Speakers

Gwen Burnyeat

Junior Research Fellow in Anthropology, University of Oxford

Gabriel Demombynes

Practice Leader for Human Development for Colombia and Venezuela, World Bank

Ani De la Quintana

Associate Director and leads Control Risks’ Global Risk Analysis team for the Andean region, Control Risks

Elkin Velasquez

Regional Director LAC, UN Habitat

Questions?

Please contact us with any questions about this event.