BOGOTA(National Times)- Colombians began voting Sunday in a presidential election that will determine the nation\u2019s response to spiraling violence by drug-running guerrillas, either staying left and opting for dialogue or tacking right towards all-out war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pre-election polls sho\u00adwed left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda riding high on strong support for combative outgoing President Gustavo Petro, but he faces a challenge from hard-right lawyer Abelardo de la Espriella and conservative senator Paloma Valencia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If, as expected, no candidate wins an outright majority on Sunday, a run-off between the two poll-toppers will be held on June 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election is widely seen as a referendum on the \u201ctotal peace\u201d strategy of Petro, Colombia\u2019s first left-wing president, who tried but failed to convince guerrilla groups that rejected a landmark 2016 peace deal to finally lay down arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite his absence from the ballot, \u201cthe campaign revolves around Petro\u201d, said Yann Basset, political science professor at Bogota\u2019s University of Rosario. \u201cHe\u2019s at the center of all the discussions.\u201d Car bombs, attack drones and the assassination of a presidential candidate pockmarked the polarising leader\u2019s four-year term, and experts say guerrillas used the peace talks to fortify their positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whoever replaces Petro will have to reckon with an alphabet soup of criminal groups engaging in drug trafficking, illegal mining and extortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But joblessness has fallen and the government has hiked the minimum wage, buffeting Petro\u2019s protege Cepeda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The son of a communist leader who was assassinated by paramilitaries, Cepeda was an architect of the 2016 peace deal that saw the Marxist rebel army FARC disband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He has pledged to continue pursuing \u201ctotal peace\u201d and extend social programmes in a deeply unequal society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cToday power is on our hands, that of the people. We don\u2019t want the return of the oligarchy and the bourgeoisie,\u201d Jose Cruz, a 60-year-old former left-wing militant, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right-wing rivals<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Dialogue with guerrillas, however, is not to the taste of Cepeda\u2019s right-wing rivals, who are betting on security fears to shunt the left out of office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Polls suggest Cepeda could face millionaire lawyer De la Espriella in the run-off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n De la Espriella, dubbed \u201cThe Tiger\u201d and an admirer of US President Donald Trump, wants to take the fight to armed groups in the air, on land and at sea \u2014 echoing the hard-on-crime rhetoric that has propelled a wave of recent right-wing wins in Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat De la Espriella wants is to put the house in order,\u201d Wilmer Bolivar, a 47-year-old ex-soldier, told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conservative Senator Paloma Valencia, a close ally of kingmaker and former president Alvaro Uribe, favours the same militarised approach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are going to put an end to \u2018total peace\u2019 in order to impose total security,\u201d she declared on the campaign trail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spooked voters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite heightened fears of bloodshed, election day itself is expected to remain calm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven criminal organisations unilaterally declare a ceasefire before the elections so that they can proceed peacefully,\u201d said Jud\u00adge Alvaro Echeverry of the National Electoral Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The government has deployed 408,000 law enforcement officers to ensure security. Colombia remains the world\u2019s largest cocaine producer, and the drug trade has much to answer for the highest levels of violence in a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" BOGOTA(National Times)- Colombians began voting Sunday in a presidential election that will determine the nation\u2019s response to spiraling violence by drug-running guerrillas, either staying left and opting for dialogue or tacking right towards all-out war. Pre-election polls sho\u00adwed left-wing senator Ivan Cepeda riding high on strong support for combative outgoing President Gustavo Petro, but he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n