Socialist candidate leads polls for Bogota election

[Judi Lynn]

Socialist candidate leads polls for Bogota election
Friday, 22 July 2011 13:49
Stephen Manker

A recent survey conducted by Datexco found that a majority of respondents would vote for socialist candidate Gustavo Petro as Bogota's mayor in the upcoming election for mayor of Bogota.

The survey, which was financed by news sources El Tiempo and W Radio, questioned 700 Bogota residents by telephone. 16.9% of the respondents said that they would vote for Gustavo Petro. There was a 3.78% margin of error in the poll.

The spread between Green Party candidate Enrique Penalosa and Gustavo Petro was only 1.3%. Election poll predictions have fluctuated recently between the two candidates.

Former Colombian President Uribe, who requested to no be included in the survey conducted by Datexco, was predicted to be in 3rd place, with 12.5% of the respondents voting in his favor.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17820-socialist-candidate-leads-polls-for-bogota-election.html

The photo editor goofed. He put up the wrong Gustavo. Here's a photo of Gustavo Petro:


Interesting Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustavo_Petro

[gbscar]

1. This would usually be a good thing, but the left or at least progressive vote will likely split...

Petro has the advantage of having broken with the party line before the scandal that disgraced Mayor Samuel Moreno, which allows him to rack up a lot of support from dissenting progressives, but this same reason makes him an unlikely choice for the more orthodox and disciplined sectors within the Polo Democrático Alternativo (PDA), including many who preferred to back Moreno until the end.

At the same time, Petro still has to deal with problem of peaking a little too early and having his guerrilla past as an easy target for the right's paranoia. At this moment that doesn't seem to be a problem, but it is certain to become more of an issue later on, for better or for worse.

In the meanwhile, the PDA's own official candidate, whom I don't really know much about myself, isn't particularly strong and probably won't come close to matching Petro, but he's sure to take away at least a number of votes. He might even be a decent choice, after hearing his proposals and programs, but he definitely lacks public recognition compared to Petro.

And, of course, we are only talking about strictly political matters here. Nobody knows what else will happen from now to October.

Here is a brief but relevant article:

Opposition party selects newcomer as Bogota mayoral candidate
Wednesday, 20 July 2011 08:21
Matt Snyder

<...>

Aurelio Suarez Montoya, an engineer from Bogota, was selected by the PDA to run as the party's candidate in the fall elections.

Montoya has not held many political positions since 1994, when he served on the assembly of the tiny Risaralda department.

He is a member of the PDA's national executive committe, and has worked as a consultant and a university professor. Montoya is also the current social coordinator for the National Association for Agricultural Salvation.

<...>

The PDA has recently faced difficulty in Bogota, as suspended PDA mayor Samuel Moreno has been accused of participation in a public transportation corruption scandal. The PDA has discussed removing Moreno from their party.

<...>
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/17761-opposition-party-selects-political-newcomer-as-bogota-mayoral-candidate.html