Colombia’s highly anticipated presidential elections on Sunday resulted in victory for two anti-establishment candidates: leftist Gustavo Petro and Trump-like right-wing millionaire Rodolfo Hernández. The two will face off in a runoff election on June 19, the outcome of which will determine whether Colombia addresses worsening inequality under Petro or ushers in a new era of populist conservatism under Hernández. Both options seem to answer to previous years’ mass uprisings in the country that protested the corruption within the state leadership. “What is going on in Colombia is a popular uprising now being expressed through the electoral process against the status quo,” says Colombian activist Manuel Rozental. “People want to vote against the establishment because there are very few and very small avenues to act politically otherwise.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.