17 June 2018•Update: 17 June 2018
By Lokman Ilhan
BOGOTA, Colombia
More than 36 million Colombians began voting in the presidential runoff on Sunday.
Outgoing President Juan Manuel Santos along with his spouse Maria Clemencia Rodriguez cast their votes in capital Bogota.
Speaking to reporters, Santos said the turnout in the elections shows strength in Colombian democracy.
He urged Colombians to vote early and then enjoy the Colombian national team’s football match in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The two candidates vying for the presidency are the right-wing, Ivan Duque, of the Centro Democratico party and the leftist, Gustavo Petro, of Colombia Humana.
The radical differences between the politics of the two candidates have made these elections a polarizing factor in Colombia, and there is a great deal on the table from Aug. 7, when a new president is sworn in, and what may occur in the following four years.
Issues such as instability in neighboring Venezuela and the refugee crisis now in Colombia, the increase in coca production, the peace agreement with the FARC guerrillas and the peace dialogues with the ELN guerrillas – currently taking place in Havana, Cuba -- are all up for debate for whoever wins Sunday.
Duque received the most votes in the first round of the elections on May 27 and has already declared that the ELN, or National Liberation Army, will need to adhere to further conditions in order to continue talks with his government.
Contrarily, Petro has said that his government will respect the current conditions for peace dialogues.
