The millionaire outsider Rodolfo Hernández refused on Thursday to attend a debate with his rival in the presidential ballot, the former guerrilla Gustavo Petro, despite a court order to agree on a meeting with the leftist senator.
The 77-year-old builder maintained that tried to comply with the sentence issued the day before, but his opponent in Sunday’s close elections “showed that he preferred not to know the precise judicial mandate to turn it into an advertising expression”.
“I terminate any possibility of following the judicial mandate.” which “concluded at 6 pm,” Hernandez said in a social media broadcast.
In the morning, the candidate had set several conditions for the debate, among them that it took place in the city of Bucaramanga -where he was mayor between 2016 and 2019- and a list of moderators.
Petro agreed to the terms almost immediately. “I do not put conditions on this debate. None. I leave all the details in the hands of the Public Media System (RTVC),” the winner of the first round with 40 percent of the support expressed in a letter.
For Hernandez, “by stating that he did not set conditions (Petro) showed that he preferred not to know the precise judicial mandate to turn it into an advertising expression”.
With his simple anti-corruption message spread on Facebook and TikTok, the eccentric millionaire obtained 28 percent of the votes in the first round, defeating the traditional parties to get into the ballot.
technical draw
Now the polls place him in a technical tie with Petro, who generates suspicion among businessmen and military fearful of an unprecedented leftist government.
In recent weeks, Hernández declined his participation in the debates, considering them “polarizing and hateful.”But a Bogotá judge ordered both candidates to schedule a meeting “jointly” and “no later than Thursday, June 16, 2022.”
The debates are “a right of the candidate to present his ideas, but at the same time a duty towards the social conglomerate”, the magistrates argued in their decision.
Petro’s campaign summoned several Hernández delegates to agree on the terms of the debate at a meeting at noon at the RTVC facilities. Representatives of his adversary did not attend the meeting or accept the invitation to connect remotely.
“By stating that he was leaving such a complicated issue in the hands of a third party, (Petro) showed that he was not willing to comply” with the court order, Hernández claimed, referring to the Public Media System.
“It will be up to the judicial office to determine who was in contempt,” conduct that in Colombia carries a prison sentence, added the outsider.
Towards the end of the first electoral round, Petro also stopped attending some debates in protest. for an alleged fraud against the leftist forces in the March legislative elections.
The millionaire outsider Rodolfo Hernández refused on Thursday to attend a debate with his rival in the presidential ballot, the former guerrilla Gustavo Petro, despite a court order to agree on a meeting with the leftist senator.
The 77-year-old builder maintained that tried to comply with the sentence issued the day before, but his opponent in Sunday’s close elections “showed that he preferred not to know the precise judicial mandate to turn it into an advertising expression”.
“I terminate any possibility of following the judicial mandate.” which “concluded at 6 pm,” Hernandez said in a social media broadcast.
In the morning, the candidate had set several conditions for the debate, among them that it took place in the city of Bucaramanga -where he was mayor between 2016 and 2019- and a list of moderators.
Petro agreed to the terms almost immediately. “I do not put conditions on this debate. None. I leave all the details in the hands of the Public Media System (RTVC),” the winner of the first round with 40 percent of the support expressed in a letter.
For Hernandez, “by stating that he did not set conditions (Petro) showed that he preferred not to know the precise judicial mandate to turn it into an advertising expression”.
With his simple anti-corruption message spread on Facebook and TikTok, the eccentric millionaire obtained 28 percent of the votes in the first round, defeating the traditional parties to get into the ballot.
technical draw
Now the polls place him in a technical tie with Petro, who generates suspicion among businessmen and military fearful of an unprecedented leftist government.
In recent weeks, Hernández declined his participation in the debates, considering them “polarizing and hateful.”But a Bogotá judge ordered both candidates to schedule a meeting “jointly” and “no later than Thursday, June 16, 2022.”
The debates are “a right of the candidate to present his ideas, but at the same time a duty towards the social conglomerate”, the magistrates argued in their decision.
Petro’s campaign summoned several Hernández delegates to agree on the terms of the debate at a meeting at noon at the RTVC facilities. Representatives of his adversary did not attend the meeting or accept the invitation to connect remotely.
“By stating that he was leaving such a complicated issue in the hands of a third party, (Petro) showed that he was not willing to comply” with the court order, Hernández claimed, referring to the Public Media System.
“It will be up to the judicial office to determine who was in contempt,” conduct that in Colombia carries a prison sentence, added the outsider.
Towards the end of the first electoral round, Petro also stopped attending some debates in protest. for an alleged fraud against the leftist forces in the March legislative elections.
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