Thursday, March 28

The Colombians were left without the expected debate between Petro and Hernández


  • The justice had ordered that the candidates discuss face to face before society a few days after very close elections

  • Petro accepted the conditions of his rival who, over the hours, blamed the leftist for the failure of the debate

Colombians were left without the debate between Gustavo Petro and Rodolfo Hernandez, the candidates who, from the left and right-wing populism, will fight for the presidency on Sunday. As if it were a soap opera, the contenders reproached each other that the attempt to discuss in front of society had failed. Although the electoral law does not contemplate it, the justice had ordered that they debate to give the elections a greater democratic substance.

“I’m glad you agreed to debate. You didn’t want to, they force you… However, I don’t put conditions on this debate. None,” Petro said. His rival also demanded that the discussion take place in Bucaramanga, the capital of the department of Santander. The Historical Pact candidate accepted. “I leave in the hands of RTVC (state television) all the details of the debate: from the moderators, to the topics, including of course those that you raise.” President Ivan Duke then made the RTVC studios available to the candidates. “The debates are good, the candidates have to agree,” he said, and they soon reminded him that he had won in the second round of 2018 by refusing to discuss publicly with Petro.

Everything seemed ready for the face to face. For a few hours, the possibility was latent that two candidates who arrive at the elections on Sunday head to head could make a difference to potential voters based on the way they presented their ideas or refuted those of the competitor. As the hours passed and Hernández gave no signs, however, it was certain that this scenario was not going to take place.

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The explanations

Hernandez, “the old man from TikTok“, accumulated an unexpected electoral power on the basis of his interventions in social networks. And that is why he returned to twitter to explain why he could not comply with the ruling of the Superior Court of Bogotá. Strictly speaking, he did it through a letter addressed to Petro himself. “You said you were ready for the debate, but true to your style failed to specify how, when, where, with whom, for what and a thousand details that have to be foreseen. I am also ready to debate, as I have been for more than 50 years, when I decided to build homes, create jobs, pay taxes and not live like a bureaucrat by profession.”

The former mayor of Bogotá did not take long to respond. “I can only say that You can’t be president and cheat the judges. Without judges, there will only be dictatorship and violence. We will abide by and defend justice.” He then endorsed a trill from the Alianza Verde senator, Antonio Sanguino, who described Hernández as “cheat engineerFor his part, Alfonso Prada, the man Petro had appointed to coordinate the debate, said that the supposed team of “the Colombian Trump” did not attend the meeting to agree on the rules of the television debate.

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unprecedented scenario

The elections of the 19th present an unprecedented singularity: none of the candidates belongs to the traditional elite. One, Petro, was a member of the urban guerrilla, M-19, demobilized and entered civilian life. He was a legislator and mayor of Bogota. Hernández accumulated his capital in private activity and served as mayor of Bucaramanga.

Related news

According to the latest report from the National Consulting Center (CNC), the candidate of the Historical Pact would have an intention to vote of 44.9%, against 41% for Hernández. The blank vote would reach 3% and almost 10% of citizens have not decided their vote. The margin of error in the survey is 2.1%, which is why there is talk of a situation of almost a technical tie and anything can happen on Sunday. Not in vain, one and another applicant have tried to go in search of indifferent citizens. Those votes can be decisive.

To quell the rumors of dangers of irregularities during the vote, Duque took advantage of a promotion ceremony for members of the Armed Forces. There he assured that “the result will be respected by the Armed Forces and the institutions” because “orderly and peaceful transitions” are being carried out in Colombia.




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