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Left-wing Senator Ivan Cepeda won the primary of President Gustavo Petro’s Pacto Historico party with a stunning 1.5 million votes. Cepeda beat former Health Minister Carolina Corcho, who received more than 677 thousand votes, and former Medellin mayor Daniel Quintero, who received more than 130 thousand votes. Cepeda calls for meaningful debate In his victory speech, Cepeda challenged candidates from other parties to meaningful debates instead of personal insults, ahead of the first round of the 2026 presidential election, which is set to be held in May next year. I am not going to attend debates, let me make that clear from the outset, to insult other candidates. Nor to threaten or denigrate us. I challenge them to talk about ideas, proposals, and concepts for the country, and not about threats, insults, and slander against people, much less against the president of the republic, Gustavo Petro Urrego, who deserves all the respect in Colombia and around the world for the work he has done as head of state. Ivan Cepeda Cepeda is a Colombian senator, victim representative, and one of the country’s most influential politicians on the left. The senator’s almost personal opposition to former President Alvaro Uribe has made him one of the country’s most polemic political figures. The Trump effect The Pacto Historico now holds the record for the highest turnout in a primary, giving the party an enormous morale boost. The primary, which drew more than 2.7 million voters, baffled analysts whose most optimistic expectations did not expect more than 700 participants. The outcome overwhelmed the national registry, which was in charge of organizing the vote. In many cases, voters had to wait hours before being able to cast their ballot. Petro thanked US President Donald Trump for boosting Colombia’s anti-imperialist left. Thanks to Trump, the Pacto has consolidated its position as Colombia’s leading political force. Gustavo Petro The so-called “Trump Effect” has boosted leftist politicians, like Brazil’s Ignacio Lula da Silva, amid opposition to the US government’s racism and aggression towards Latin America.
