Green Party to fight for Colombia´s presidency
Colombia´s Green Party announced that a public consultation will take place this month to decide its candidate for next year’s presidential elections.
The announcement of a contest came during a meeting of the key members of the party at the weekend in Medellin, and the favourite to lead the party into next year’s vote is the current Governor of Antioquia and former mayor of Medellin Sergio Fajardo.
The Green Party have close to no chance of winning the presidency in next year’s election with nationwide support being somewhat limited. The party currently holds five seats in the Senate and three in the Chamber of Representatives. However, during the last presidential election in 2010 the Green Party Candidate Antanas Mockus enjoyed significant support in urban areas and made it through to the second round of voting where he lost to Santos.
Fajardo, like Mockus, is a mathematician and held a number of senior positions within academia before moving into public life. As mayor of Medellin between 2003-2007, his tenure saw a reduction in violence in the city and sound management of the public finances. He was also voted the best mayor of Colombia as well as “Personality of Latin America” by the Financial Times during this time. Farjardo also has links with the Colombian media having worked with various national newspapers and Caracol Radio. It is whispered that he will hand in his resignation as the Governor of Antioquia in the coming weeks in order to fight for the candidacy.
Also in the running for the candidacy are two former mayors of Bogota, Lucho Garzon and Enrique Peñalosa. Though the Green Party’s fight for the presidency is not likely to be a fruitful one, they certainly bring an interesting dynamic to Colombian politics, and their popularity among young people is down their refreshingly optimistic and principled take on key issues.