Colombia is going to choose its new President today and this is what you need to know about these crucial elections for Latin America.
6 candidates are running for President in Colombia. The favorite to be in charge is Gustavo Petro, who has Francia Márquez as a vice-presidential formula to win. Both, are part of the «Pacto Histórico» coalition party, made up of left-wing parties.
Behind Petro are Federico Andrés Gutiérrez Zuluaga, better known as Fico. This candidate, who chooses Rodrigo Lara as vice-presidential formula, is part of the right-wing coalition «Equipo por Colombia».
The third place is held by the candidate Rodolfo Hernández Suárez, from the League of Anticorruption Leaders, who has 18 percent of the electoral preference for him to take the post of president.
According to the National Registry of Civil Status and the National Electoral Council, there are 39 million two thousand 239 Colombians who are authorized to exercise their right to vote in Colombia and abroad during this year's presidential elections.
Of these, 20 million 111 thousand 908 are women and 18 million 890 thousand 331 are men.
Of that electorate, a little more than 38 million people will vote in Colombian territory, who will vote at one of the 100,809 polling stations, which will be installed in 12,263 positions throughout the country, with 5,174 in the urban area and 7 thousand 089 in the rural area.
Outside the country, 972,764 Colombians will be able to cast their vote at one of the 1,343 tables distributed in 250 polling stations in 67 countries.
This Sunday, May 29, the voting booths will be open between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., and it is expected that the first results of the elections will begin to be known before 8:00 p.m.
This note was made with the support of a group of journalists who cover the first-round elections in Colombia, sponsored by Global Exchange in collaboration with Peninsula 360 Press.
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