AMERICA/COLOMBIA - Ivan Duque becomes the youngest Colombian president

Monday, 18 June 2018 elections farc violence peace bishops

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Bogota (Agenzia Fides) - Right candidate Ivan Duque is the new president of Colombia. Leader of the Democratic Center, won Colombia's presidential election that took place yesterday, Sunday, June 17, defeating his leftist rival, former guerrilla Gustavo Petro Urrego. Based on the final data, released by the Electoral Commission at the end of the count, Duque secured 54,07% on Sunday, against 41.7% of Gustavo Petro.
The Episcopal Conference of Colombia had insistently repeated in recent days the invitation to vote with "conscience, freedom and responsibility", in a Country where abstentionism is historically higher than 50%.
In much the same way as they had already said on the eve of the first election round of 27 May (where no candidate had reached the required percentage: Duque had obtained 39.14 percent, while Petro 25.08 percent) Bishops repeated before the ballot: "Why vote? Because it is a right and a moral duty" that has strong repercussions in the life of the Country", the vote represents everyone’s commitment in the construction of different areas of national life". By not voting means "denying a service to the integral development of our country".
Ivan Duque, 41, becomes the youngest Colombian president. His victory, according to analysts in the international press, is due to the promise to bring "structural changes" to the 2016 peace agreement, which put an end to the longest conflict in Latin America, which lasted over half a century with more than 250 thousand dead, thousands missing and about 7 million refugees. (CE) (Agenzia Fides, 18/6/2018)