2018 Colombian Presidential Election - Colombian presidential election is heading into a runoff vote

Colombia's historic presidential election is heading into a runoff vote, with right-wing candidate Ivan Duque leading the race but failing to secure the majority needed to win outright.

With nearly all of the votes counted,Ivan  Duque - who led opinion polls ahead of Sunday's election - was first with 39.1 percent.

He will now face leftist candidate Gustavo Petro, who finished second with 25.1 percent, in the second round of voting on June 17,2018

Former Medellin Mayor Sergio Fajardo, a centre-left candidate, came third with 23.8 percent

The winner of the second round will begin a four-year term in office from August onwards.

Around 36 million Colombians were eligible to vote. The final outcome of the elections is expected to shape the future of a controversial 2016 peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels.

Note

Incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for ending a decades-long conflict with FARC, was ineligible to run for re-election having served the maximum two terms permitted by Colombia's constitution.

To win the presidency, a candidate must secure a majority of votes. Failing that, a second round will be held on June 17. The winner will begin a four-year term in August.

The presidential election vote follows congressional elections on March 11, which are often seen as bellwethers for the presidential elections. The candidate whose party wins most seats in the congressional elections often goes on to become president.

Right-wing and left-wing coalitions also held primaries on March 11, in which Ivan Duque and Gustavo Petro emerged as the candidates for each group respectively

Presidential Candidates

 Ivan Duque

•  Currently the man to beat, the right-wing Centro Democratico (Democratic Centre) politician has been leading opinion polls since January.
  
• A lawyer and senator, Duque is the protege of former President Alvaro Uribe, who led the country from 2002 to 2010. Uribe remains a highly influential figure in Colombian politics, with as many as one in five Colombians telling pollsters they would vote for the candidate backed by Uribe.
  
• Duque has vowed to close the poverty gap, simplify the country's tax code and pursue the complete eradication of coca in line with his tough stance on drugs.
  
• If elected, he wants to pass constitutional reforms to undo key aspects of the peace deal, including those that allow the FARC to participate in politics.
  
• Critics say Duque lacks experience, having only entered politics in 2014, and fear he is too closely tied to both Uribe and big business.

 Gustavo Petro

• The left's candidate is a former mayor of Colombia's capital, Bogota, and a one-time member of the M-19 armed group.
  
• Petro has promised to fully separate the country's political and judicial systems, in a bid to strengthen democracy and tackle corruption.
  
• Inequality is high on Petro's agenda: he wants to improve working conditions, nationalise healthcare and introduce land reforms to benefit the country's rural poor.
  
• He supports peace with the FARC, but has criticised the deal, saying it ended the war without resolving its effects on society.
  
• Petro's critics say his plans to shift Colombia's economy from oil to agriculture are unrealistic, but his supporters see him as the most credible challenger of the traditional power bases.