Senator Miguel Uribe from the Colombia Centro Democratico party called for an alliance among various right-wing candidates who, based on current indications, might not have a chance to win the mayoralty of Bogota in the upcoming elections. A recently published poll shows Carlos Galan from the Nuevo Liberalismo party as the winner, and he is expected to face off against the left-wing candidate Gustavo Bolivar in a runoff election, which is reshaping the political landscape in the capital.
Senator Uribe openly called for the unity of today’s candidates, including Juan Daniel Oviedo, Rodrigo Lara, General Jorge Luis Vargas, and Diego Molano, the former minister of Iván Duque’s government, to run as a single candidate in order to secure a spot in the runoff.
Unfavorable Polls
This week, a poll by Invamer was released, which did not give any of the candidates proposed by Uribe a chance in this unity effort. According to this poll, neither Rodrigo Lara, General Jorge Luis Vargas, nor Diego Molano have a chance to make it to the runoff. Juan Daniel Oviedo’s chances are slightly higher, as Invamer places him in third position with just over 16.8% of the first-round votes, trailing Gustavo Bolívar with 20.3% and the winner, Carlos Galán, with 26.6%.
As a result, the current scenario, just two months away from the elections, points to a situation where Galán would win the vote on October 29th and then compete for the final victory on November 19th in a runoff against the candidate from the Pacto Histórico coalition, former Senator Gustavo Bolivar, or less likely, former DANE director Juan Daniel Oviedo.
Objective: Stop Bolívar
The declared objective of the Uribe’s proposal is to hinder the chances of the left-wing candidate Gustavo Bolívar. Bolívar is very close to President Petro and is considered to be part of the more left-leaning positions within the Pacto Histórico government coalition.
“This agreement must guarantee a security proposal without improvisation, support for law enforcement without hesitation, and strong opposition to the payment to criminals proposed by the Petro government. Gustavo Bolívar has shown himself to be on the side of the criminals of the ‘primera línea’ (frontline protesters), we need a mayor who protects the citizens,” said Miguel Uribe in a video announcing his proposal for right-wing unity.
There is still time to make this happen before September 28th, when the deadline for making changes to the candidacies closes.
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