Colombia's presidential election is headed to a runoff after no candidate received a majority in the first round of voting to succeed Juan Manuel Santos, exit polling indicated. Iván Duque and Gustavo Petro will meet in a second round scheduled for June 17.
The May 27 vote was Colombia's the first presidential election since a peace deal ended a five-decade conflict with guerrillas and paramilitary groups that had shaped the South American country's politics for generations. Duque was a vocal critic of the deal, while Petro was once a guerrilla leader.
With almost 98% of polling stations reporting, Duque led with 39% of the vote, as expected, while Petro was a distant second with 25.08%, Reuters reported.
Duque, the center-right candidate who was widely expected to win, has embraced market-friendly policies echoing those of Argentina President Mauricio Macri. Conversely, Petro, a self-proclaimed "progressive leftist," galvanized many — predominantly younger and urban — voters on an anti-corruption and anti-establishment platform, but also garnered critics who accuse him of being in the ilk of authoritarian socialist leaders like Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro.
The next president faces a host of economic challenges, including significant debt, stagnant productivity and an influx of Venezuelans fleeing the crisis in their country.
Duque has pledged to strengthen foreign investment, drive economic growth through private enterprise and boost capital markets through savings and stock exchange activity, while Petro campaigned on a platform of wealth redistribution and ending extractive industries.
