Colombia’s Local Elections, Far-Right Uribe Loses Major Cities

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28 October 2019

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The outcome reveals the overwhelming defeat of the right-wing Democratic Center party led by former far-right president Alvaro Uribe.

The Colombian National Registry announced the results of the local and regional elections held Sunday with the center-left obtaining big wins across the country.

RELATED: Colombia: Electoral Crimes Denounced During Local Polls

The outcome reveals the overwhelming defeat of the right-wing Democratic Center party led by former far-right president Alvaro Uribe. The party lost the main cities of Bogota, Cali, Barranquilla, Medellin, and Cucuta.

Center-left Claudia Lopez, 49, stood out in these elections after she won the capital Bogota with 35.2 percent of the votes. Lopez, a symbol of the fight against corruption in the South American country, becomes the first woman and the first openly gay candidate to be elected mayor of the country's capital.

"Thanks to the young people, to the women and the families, like mine! Not only did we win but we're changing history!" Lopez said in her twitter account.

While in the northwestern city of Turbaco, ex-FARC combattant Guillermo Torres, known as Julian Conrado, won the mayoral race with 50.2 of the votes.

@AlvaroUribeVel Perdimos, reconozco la derrota con humildad. La lucha por la democracia no tiene fin (We lost, I recognize defeat with humility)

Center-left Jorge Ivan Ospina in the city of Cali with 37.9 percent, right-wing Jairo Tomas Yañes won in Cucuta with 34.2 percent, and independent candidate Daniel Quintero with 38.2 percent in Medellin, which Uribe’s party historically stronghold.

In the most economically dynamic departments, the chosen governors are center-left Carlos Caicedo with 60.3 percent of the votes in Magdalena, centrist Anibal Gaviria with 35 percent in Antioquia, right-wing Elsa Noguera who obtained 66.3 percent in the Atlantic and right-wing Clara Roldan with 55.9 in the Valle del Cauca.

According to the Electoral Observation Movement, 208 cases of irregularities were recorded during the day, as well as the detention of 80 people who allegedly participated in corruption events.

The elections were beset by violence in more than a quarter of municipalities, the electoral mission observatory said.

Former left-wing guerrilla FARC, who became a political party in the historic 2016 peace accord that ended more than 50 years of armed rebellion, participated in elections for the second time.