Colombia entered the last year of Gustavo Petro’s government in the middle of an atypical electoral campaign, Without a clear favorite and with A growing presence of surprise candidates that could break the political board for the 2026 elections.
The next electoral contest is marked by a wide range of applicants from the right, the left and center, in a context of growing polarization, institutional crisis and a marked wear of the current government in all fields.
(See: President Petro’s approval rose up to 37%, one year after completing his government).
Colombia will choose a new congress on March 8 and president on May 31, 2026, With a possible Second round on June 21.
“The most interesting thing about this strange campaign and of this political moment that marks the last year of the Petro government is that there is a marked opposition between two people who will not participate in the elections: neither Petro nor (former president Álvaro) Uribe“He told the agency EFE Enrique Serrano, professor of the Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies of the University of Rosario.
Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia.
Courtesy: Presidency
(See: Peru clarifies to Colombia that there is nothing to talk about sovereignty of Amazon Island).
Without clear advantage
Uribe (2002-2010), founder of the Democratic Center Party, has just been sentenced to 12 years in prison by procedural and bribery fraud, and is politically disabled.
According to Serrano, the presence of Petro and Uribe is symbolic, “marks a very strange polarization” and explains the “current atomization” of the electoral scenario.
“The fact that neither of them can be a candidate or president marks a strange destiny of Colombian political life because those who threw themselves to a campaign were those who had the possibility of being presidents and obtaining a triumph, not by interposed person person“, says the professor.
A recent Guarumo y Ecoanalitic survey identified at least 75 presidential applicants, among them several ‘outsiders’ like the lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and the journalist Vicky Dávila, who left last year the direction of the magazine Semana, where he stood out for uncovering cases of corruption and for his sharp criticism of Petro’s government.
(See: The lights and shadows of the three years of the Petro government).
To all this is added the “great weakening, aridity and erosion” of traditional parties such as the liberal and conservative, of what is not saved radical change, the democratic center and the official historical pact, among others, so that Serrano predicts that an independent candidate could end up winning: “I could bet that the winner will be an ‘outsider’“
“The country is a little fed up with the staging so pathetic that there was in the current government, the servility of the parties, their helplessness or their indecision“, summarizes the professor.
Among conventional applicants are old acquaintances of politics as Sergio Fajardo, Juan Manuel Galán, María Fernanda Cabal or Gustavo Bolívar, That, for Serrano, “they are good rulers, but loose candidates.”
(See: In mid -September, sovereignty of Santa Rosa Island would be defined in the Amazon).
“That is because what needs to be measured now is the temperature of the candidates and their courage, their thrust, their way of entering public opinion“, he says.
Miguel Uribe, Vicky Dávila and Gustavo Bolívar.
Without clear advantage
For Serrano, the presidential race had a bit of clarity this Thursday, when the supply marches to Uribe were made after his conviction.
This is because they were a kind of “claim of the figure of Uribe and a kind of nostalgia of a past, we would not say glorious, but in any case a successful past against the current government“, who has not been able to meet on issues Economy, security and social reforms.
The Democratic Center summoned marches throughout the country to support former president Uribe, whom they consider innocent and who recognize a legacy that they have to defend.
(See: The last year of the Petro Government: how is the panorama for the country).
“That game has suffered a series of blows, the strongest is the Uribe prison (…) but it does not necessarily be weakened. I see it even strengthened because Uribe’s followers are many“, emphasizes.
Historical Pact
Sergio Steel Yate / Portafolio
Loss of support in young people
Against the ruling party, represented by the historical pact, also plays The loss of youth support, key in 2022, When “they were clearly with Petro.”
“That has blurred. A strong right has resurfaced among young people“, something that shows in the social networks in which we talk about The need for security, economic recovery, tax reduction and good public money management.
The ruling party also weakened by the internal struggle between Petro and the vice president France Márquez and for the scandals in their environment: “The incompetence of many of its militants, the lack of technical preparation against the exercise of power, all that kind of thing has been very intensely evidenced, so it will be a party punished in the elections“, the expert sentenced.
(See: In Health, Agro and Education they foresee a last year of more pessimistic Petro).
Therefore, Serrano considers that The election year facing Colombia will be ‘sui generis’: Without strong candidates, with traditional burned parties and two out -of -play historical leaders, an open panorama for surprises.
EFE
