The moment of truth has comesummarizes the press of the day by talking about an election historic after the campaign tedious, too dark and very polarized.

Outgoing conservative President Ivan Duque, who cannot run again, opened the ballot by voting at dawn in Bogota.

In the capital, under rain and overcast, voting started smoothly in the city center, without large lines of voters in front of schools and other municipalities.

Morning mobilization is more visible under the sun in the provinces, for example in Cucuta, a border town in Venezuela.

Gustavo Petro, former guerrilla and economist

Nearly 39 million voters are expected at 12,000 polling stations, where they will be chosen between six candidates.

Leading the polls, leftist senator Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla convert to social democracy, economist and former mayor of Bogota, benefited from the thirst for change which he made emblem.

His ascension to the top office would be a political earthquake in a country where conservatives have monopolized power for decades.

It’s time for trust, coexistence and a willingness to changehe said before voting with his family in Bogota.

This is the third time Mr. Petro, 62, has participated in the presidential election. As a running mate for vice president, he bet on Francia Marquez, a charismatic Afro-Colombian, activist with a feminist and anti-racist discourse, who has already established herself as one of the standout-only phenomena of this presidential election.

Conversely, conservative candidate Federico Gutierrez, former mayor of Medellin (the second largest city in the country), wants to be an advocate of Colombians. usuallywhich he promised order and security.

From the classic denunciatory speech of the scarecrow Communist, ficofor his supporters, has also recently adopted the antipon change, calling himself a candidate of bait while keeping hard to stand out from the former Colombian right.

Colombian Trump

fico is seriously pursued in the polls by independent candidate Rodolfo Hernandez, a 77-year-old millionaire businessman with populist rhetoric that denigrates corruption.

Often referred to as Colombian Trump of the press, Mr. Hernandez voted in his stronghold of Bucaramanga.

Everything was in order, I was able to vote in just a few minuteshired Eliana, a 36-year-old nurse in Bogota, for whom the left is rising in elections, especially among the youth.

We all want change, said Elison, a 34-year-old hotel worker. Other voters lamented the common left-right rivalry. We only have a choice between these two pathsregrets says John, a 54-year-old businessman.

Whatever the result, it will be a boom! he said he estimated Valentina, a 19-year-old student, moved to vote for the first time in the election decisive.

Expect results at night

Offices will open until 4 pm and the results of this first round are expected in the evening. The second round is scheduled for June 19 in the unlikely event that none of the candidates pass the 50% mark.

The election is taking place in a climate of intense political tension after four years without major major reforms marked by pandemics, deep recessions, massive demonstrations in cities and increasing violence by armed groups in the countryside.

The wall (strike) of the spring of 2021, which was strictly suppressed by the police, revealed the extent of frustration, especially among the youth, in the face of poverty, inequality and corruption, the endemic evil of the country.

In the countryside, guerrillas and armed groups linked to drug trafficking have exaggerated their violence and their grip on communities, undermining some of the achievements of the peace agreement signed in 2016 with the Marxist FARC.

A plethora of international observers, notably from the European Union, are monitoring the ballot, but there are also nearly 120,000 scrutineers nominated by the two main candidates.

The government has deployed a total of 300,000 police and military in the country to provide security during the polls.