The right-wing candidate for the Presidency of Colombia Federico “Fico” Gutiérrez asked Colombians this Sunday to go out and vote en masse in the first round to protect democracy and freedoms.
“The call is to go out and vote massively. We want a resounding victory and make it impossible for a few to commit fraud,” said “Fico” after voting at the Inem José Félix de Restrepo school in Medellín, accompanied by his wife, Margarita Gómez, and his son, Pedro.
Gutiérrez indicated that he hopes that today’s will be “free, fair and peaceful elections, and that of course we win but to unite Colombia; people are leaving en masse, I see more people voting than on the day of the legislative elections and the consultations, that is good».
The candidate of the right-wing coalition Equipo por Colombia, who was applauded upon arrival at the polling place in his native Medellín, the city of which he was mayor between 2016 and 2019, indicated that the witnesses of his campaign will not only “take care” of the votes deposited by him but those of all Colombians regardless of whether they are from their containers.
“We need the votes to be taken care of, that democracy be taken care of. The instruction to all the electoral witness volunteers of our campaign is that when the time comes to count, not only take care of my votes (…) but take care of everyone’s votes because that is democracy, it is the only way for the country to move forward. », he stated.
The presidential campaign was marked by complaints of alleged irregularities by the National Registry, the entity that organizes the elections, and even attempted fraud, as a result of the failures that occurred in the pre-count of the votes of the legislative elections of the past 13 March.
Gutiérrez assured that among all Colombians they can “shield these elections, and of course that they give guarantees to all the candidates and above all to all Colombians.”
The right-wing candidate is second in the voting intention polls, which are led by the leftist Gustavo Petro and which also indicate that no candidate will achieve half plus one of the votes, which will force a second round on June 19.
Gutiérrez also pointed out that it is “very important” to be able to unite Colombia and that the atmosphere in the streets during the elections shows him that there is “every chance of winning”, so he hopes to send a message of unity once they meet. the results.
“Many things have to change in Colombia. We are going to do many things differently, but to overcome poverty, corruption and violence and (that) we have a better country », he said. EFE
