Colombia presidential election winner certified

Colombia's national register officially certified Thursday Gustavo Petro and his running mate Francia Marquez are the victors of Sunday's presidential election. At an event in Bogota at the National Registrar's Office, Colombia's first leftist president called for dialogue.

Petro said he had issued a symbolic invitation to his electoral rival Rodolfo Hernández and to his opponent Alvaro Uribe Velez to engage in a dialogue for the country's sake. "We need to put ourselves into dialogue mode to reach agreements, agreements that have nothing to do with how this government does more of the same," he said.

"We would violate the popular mandate if we do that, dialogues to build the paths to transformation in Colombia." After the ceremony, the new president met with outgoing President Iván Duque for the first time.

Duque, a conservative who defeated Petro in 2018 but was not eligible for reelection, promised a "harmonious, institutional and transparent transition" before Petro takes office Aug. 7. The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared the election on Monday after completing the vote count.

His party, the Historic Pact, will have the most seats in the incoming Senate and the second-largest number of seats in the House.

Still, he will lack a majority when the new Congress opens July 20, which likely will force him to make deals, curb some reforms or even ditch others.

The election also gave Colombia for the first time a Black politician as vice president — Francia Márquez, a lawyer and environmental leader whose opposition to illegal mining resulted in threats and a grenade attack in 2019.

Petro has said he will govern for the "nobodies," meaning minorities and the poor, the latter making up 39% of the population, according to official figures from 2021.

In his first 100 days in office, Petro said, he aims to implement an emergency plan against hunger, introduce a "living income" for mothers who are heads of households and cancel the student loans of 10,000 people.

Image: AP