Colombian president's allies defeated in regional elections

BOGOTA, Colombia

Allies of Colombian President Gustavo Petro lost control of the country’s most important cities in regional elections held Sunday.

In the capital Bogota, Petro’s candidate Gustavo Bolivar came in third place for mayor. Former Senator Carlos Fernando Galan won by obtaining nearly 50% of the vote, beating the former director of the national statistics agency, Juan Daniel Oviedo, by more than 20 percentage points.

Bolivar acknowledged defeat and said there was “a vote to punish” the ruling Historical Pact coalition in Bogota, traditionally a stronghold of the president and of the left, which has given up power to the center.

“The Historical Pact is broken. We will dedicate ourselves to traveling throughout Colombia to put the pieces together. The situation is difficult, with citizens who believed that change could be made in a few months and have become disillusioned. I feel that it is a punishing vote, so I want to know what happened in the regions, because I know that it did not go well for us,” he said.

Candidates who share the ideas of the government were also defeated in Medellín, Barranquilla and Cali, the three largest cities after Bogota.

After 14 months in power, the first left-wing president in the country's history has lost close to 30% approval. The defeat could hinder the health, labor and pension reforms the government is trying to pass in congress.

More than 20,000 officials were elected in Sunday’s polls, including 32 governors and 1,102 mayors.