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1 1 (June 16, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/govehvv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ____ ~ Research Service Colombia: Presidential Elections in 2022 June 16, 2022 On June 19, 2022, Colombia, long a close U.S. ally in Latin America, is scheduled to hold a presidential runoff vote. Whatever the outcome of the election, the new government may seek to reshape Colombia's relations with the United States; both candidates favor policies very different from those of previous administrations. Congress maintains a keen interest in several issues regarding Colombia, including narcotics, responses to neighboring Venezuela, trade, human rights, and the ongoing peace process. The Candidates and the Political Setting Gustavo Petro (62), a leftist and current senator who has twice run for president, faces Rodolfo Hernindez (77), a self-defined rightwing maverick. Neither candidate has links to Colombia's traditional center and center-right parties. Experts expected that Federico Gutierrez, the center-right former mayor of Medellin who pledged continuity and an investor-friendly administration, would face Petro in a second round. Instead, in the May 29 first round, Petro, who had led in the polls for months, received 40% of the vote, followed by Hernindez, with 28.2%. Although Gutierrez has urged his voters to support Hernindez and reject Petro, several polls indicate the race is too close to call. Petro represents a coalition of leftist parties, the Historic Pact. Between stints in Colombia's Congress, Petro served as mayor of the capital Bogoti and, in his youth, was a member of a leftist guerrilla group, the M-19. Petro last ran for president in the 2018 election, winning a historic number of votes for the political left in the runoff vote. If elected, Petro would be Colombia's first leftist president. Hernindez is an engineer by training who became a wealthy builder and served a term as mayor of the midsize city Bucaramanga. Founder of a political movement known as the Anticorruption League, his campaign has made corruption in politics its central concern. He has conducted his campaign largely over social media platforms, such as TikTok, and has avoided candidate debates. Colombia's population reportedly is more polarized and dissatisfied than in past decades. Many Colombians, especially young people, reportedly express widespread frustration with the administrations of the traditional elite parties that, in their view, were unable to meet the country's steep challenges. In a recent poll, some 85% of Colombians described the country as moving in the wrong direction. President Ivin Duque, who ends his term (2018-2022) in August, currently has approval ratings of around 25%. The candidates vying to replace Duque lack support in the 2022-2026 Colombian Chamber of Representatives and Senate elected on March 13, 2022, suggesting that either future president may face Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN11955 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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