Peter won 50.5 percent of the vote against 47.3 percent for his only rival, 77-year-old populist businessman Rodolfo Hernández, according to provisional official results. With 11.3 million votes, it was the highest in Colombia’s electoral history. Hernandez conceded defeat in a matter of hours in a short video. The result represents a radical change for the nation of South America, which for decades has been ruled by moderate and conservative politicians, mostly the established elite. A member of the M-19 guerrilla group in the 1980s, Peter, who was arrested for illegal possession of weapons and said he was tortured in custody, has since served as a senator, member of parliament and mayor of Bogota. However, he had failed in two previous candidacies for the top spot to break Colombia’s tied political system. His victory means Latin America’s third most populous nation, with 50 million people and the fourth largest economy, will have its first black vice president, Francia Márquez, an environmental activist and social activist who grew up in rural poverty violence. -west. “This means a new model of governance, different from anything Colombia has ever seen before,” said Daniela Cuellar, a senior consultant at business management firm FTI Consulting in Bogota. “In Colombia, as in many Latin American countries with a history of inequality, unemployment and violence – all exacerbated by the Covid pandemic – people are looking for different forms of government and this is Petro’s victory.” Gustavo Petro supporters celebrate at Movistar Arena in Bogota © Carlos Ortega / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock In the town of Villavicencio, once a hotbed of Marxist guerrilla violence, its supporters bravely faced torrential rain to drive through the streets on honking motorcycles. In the mountainous Pasto, near the border with Ecuador, hundreds gathered in the city center, embracing each other with joy. The business community will be less happy. Petro’s radical call for a review of Colombia’s economic model has frightened investors. Currency, peso and local assets are likely to suffer, although Monday is a holiday in Colombia, the full effect may not be immediately felt. “We will see instability in Colombia’s assets in the short term,” said Ani de la Quintana, deputy director of Control Risks in Bogota. “Clearly the peso and the markets will react negatively. The peso closed at $ 3,912 per dollar on Friday. “Who knows how much further it will be devalued now?” “We could also see a significant capital flight from Colombia, as happened in Peru with the elections there last year. “In the medium term, Moody’s and Fitch may further downgrade Colombia.” Gustavo Petro arrives at Bogota polling station on Sunday © Daniel Munoz / AFP / Getty Images Petro’s policy proposals include banning oil exploration, open-pit mining and fracking in a fossil fuel-based country for about half of its export earnings. He says the country should focus on manufacturing and agriculture. The 62-year-old has promised major land reform, a property tax on the country’s largest 4,000 properties and the repeal of laws two decades ago that liberalized the labor market. His tax reform plans aim to raise at least $ 10 billion a year, mainly through levies on corporate dividends, offshore assets and large agricultural holdings. The move “will affect 4,000-5,000 people in Colombia, but it will bring social justice, boost production and give us the source of the money we need,” he told the Financial Times in a recent interview. It pledged to use the proceeds to fund universal free higher education and a minimum wage of 1.3 million people and reduce the government deficit, which reached 7.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product by the end of 2021. “We hope to have a constructive dialogue with the new government,” said Bruce Mac Master, president of the National Business Association of Colombia. “Petros is an economist. Understands financial issues. “The important thing now is that he names a really good cabinet.”

Despite his victory, Peter may find it difficult to implement his most radical proposals. His coalition, the Historic Pact, holds only 15 percent of the seats in both houses of Congress. “The coming weeks will be crucial to see what kind of alliances it can form,” Cuellar said. Petros will take over the presidency on August 7th, when right-wing incumbent Ivan Duke resigns. The Duque government is deeply unpopular despite strong economic growth, and Sunday’s result marked a setback for Colombian conservatism, which had thrown its weight behind the unorthodox Hernández in a frantic attempt to keep the left away.