Colombians vote for president amid corruption fears, polarisation

A deeply divided electorate will choose Colombia’s next president in a run-off on Sunday that pits a progressive against a conservative outsider, with both candidates tapping into fears of renewed internal conflict in the country.

Voters will choose between businessman and lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and Iván Cepeda, a lawmaker and heir to the political movement of outgoing President Gustavo Petro, the nation’s first leftist leader. The two defeated nine other contenders in a May 31 vote.

Both are pitching strategies that they say will prevent the South American nation from experiencing the nonstop merciless violence, such as car bombs, kidnappings, disappearances and forced displacements that Colombians lived with in previous decades.

Cepeda is promising to continue Petro’s efforts, including attempts at establishing dialogue with multiple illegal armed groups, even though those efforts have largely failed.

The two candidates also are offering differing solutions for the country’s struggling health system, ballooning public debt and entrenched corruption.