The Green Alliance, one of the three members of the Colombia Coalition, has called on its supporters to vote against former president Alvaro Uribe’s protege Ivan Duque in the second round of Colombia's presidential election.
“None of our militants, leaders and elected members are authorized to vote or defend Ivan Duque’s candidacy… Supporting him means going back to a past of violence and stigmatization that risks the implementation of the peace process,” the party’s leader Claudia Lopez said in a press conference.
The party, which supported Sergio Fajardo in the first round, didn't, however, endorse Gustavo Petro who will face off Duque in the second round of the election on June 17.
A poll published Thursday showed that Duque would secure 55 percent of the vote in the second round placing him 20 points ahead of, Petro, who is projected to receive 35 percent of the vote.
Some ten percent of the person surveyed said they would cast blank ballots.
“A part of us believes that the best way to confront Duque is to support Gustavo Petro’s candidacy as an agent of change. Others believe the best way to confront his is to support neither Petro nor Duque and cast blank ballots. Both positions are respectable and legitimate,” Lopez said.
The Colombia Coalition, which included the Green Alliance, the Democratic Pole, and the Citizens’ Commitment Party achieved roughly 4.5 million votes, 300,000 less than Gustavo Petro and his Humane Colombia movement.
So far only the Democratic Pole has endorsed Petro. Former presidential candidate Sergio Fajardo has announced he will cast a blank vote despite the absence of an official statement by his party, Citizen’s Commitment.
In the first round of voting, Duque received 7.5 million votes and has been endorsed by the Liberal and Conservative parties for the second round of the election, which could mean an extra 1.8 million votes.