More than 39 million Colombians are eligible to vote in the May 29th election.


Leftist Colombian presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla vowing to tackle grating inequality, held a big lead ahead of the May 29 vote, a poll showed late on Thursday, though center-right rival Federico Gutierrez saw an uptick in support.

Mr. Petro, who was the mayor of Bogota between 2012 and 2015, had 40.6 per cent support, according to pollster Invamer. That is three percentage points lower than what he had in an April 22 poll.

Mr. Gutierrez, the former mayor of Colombia’s second-biggest city Medellin, has 27.1 per cent support, up from the 26.7 per cent he got in April.

If no one wins more than 50 per cent in the first round of voting and the two men head to a June run-off, Mr. Petro would win 52.7 per cent against 44.2 per cent for Gutierrez, the survey showed.

Mr. Petro has pledged to stop all new oil development and redistribute pension savings, while Gutierrez has promised better salaries and cuts to inefficient government spending.

Independent candidate Rodolfo Hernandez, also a former mayor, saw a significant leap in first-round support – jumping to 20.9 per cent from 13.9 per cent in April.

Hernandez, a businessman from the city of Bucaramanga who casts himself as the anti-corruption candidate, has attracted attention for his whimsical uploads to social media site TikTok.

In a run-off between Mr. Petro and Mr. Hernandez, the leftist would win 50 per cent to 47.4 per cent for his opponent, the poll showed.