BOGOTA, June 20, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Ex-guerrilla Gustavo Petro was elected the

first ever left-wing president of Colombia on Sunday, after beating
millionaire businessman Rodolfo Hernandez in a tense and unpredictable runoff
election.

With all votes counted, Petro -- the 62-year-old former mayor of Bogota --
won with 50.4 percent compared to Hernandez's 47.3 percent.

"As of today, Colombia is changing, a real change that guides us to one of
our aims: the politics of love ... of understanding and dialogue," said a
victorious Petro.

Hernandez, 77, accepted the result, in which he came up short by 700,000
votes, in a Facebook live broadcast.

"I hope that Mr Gustavo Petro knows how to run the country and is faithful to
his discourse against corruption," said the construction magnate, who had
made fighting graft his main campaign pledge.

Petro will succeed the deeply unpopular conservative Ivan Duque, who was
barred by Colombia's constitution from standing for reelection, in a country
saddled with widespread poverty, a surge in violence and other woes.

Speaking to delirious supporters at his party headquarters in Bogota, Petro
held out an olive branch to his opponents.

"This is not a change to deepen sectarianism in Colombia. The change consists
precisely of leaving hatred behind, leaving sectarianism behind."

He added: "We want a Colombia that through its diversity is one Colombia."

In another historic achievement for a country where 10 percent of the
population identify as Afro-descendents, environmental activist and feminist
Francia Marquez, 40, will become Colombia's first black woman vice president.

"The great challenge that all of us Colombians have is reconciliation," said
Marquez, who was the target of threats during a fractious campaign.

"The time has come to build peace, a peace that implies social justice."

In central Bogota, thousands of Petro supporters -- mostly young people --
rejoiced.

"I'm celebrating because finally we're going to have change ... this shows
there is hope," academic Lusimar Asprilla, 25, told AFP.

- 'Joy for Latin America' -

Leftist leaders in the Latin America region were quick to congratulate Petro.

"Gustavo Petro's victory is historic. Colombia's conservatives have always
been tenacious and tough," Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wrote
on Twitter.

"Joy for Latin America! We will work together for the unity of our continent
in the challenges of a world changing rapidly," tweeted Chile President
Gabriel Boric.

"The will of the Colombian people has been heard, it went out to defend the
path to democracy and peace," said Venezuela's authoritarian President
Nicolas Maduro, who has been branded a dictator by the opposition in his own
country.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent congratulations to "the
people of Colombia for making their voices heard in a free and fair
presidential election.

Amid fears a tight result could spark post-election violence, some 320,000
police and military were deployed to ensure security for the 39 million
registered voters.

The electoral observer mission said one of Petro's election monitors and a
soldier were killed, both in the south.

Colombia is no stranger to political violence, with five presidential
candidates having been murdered over the course of the 20th century.

Before the first round of this year's presidential election, several
candidates received death threats.

- 'No clear mandate' -

Petro will have to deal with a country reeling economically from the
coronavirus pandemic, a spike in drug-trafficking related violence and deep-
rooted anger at the political establishment that spilled over into mass anti-
government protests in April 2021.

Almost 40 percent of the country lives in poverty while 11 percent are
unemployed.

"This result does not give the new president a clear mandate to execute his
policy without at least trying to address concerns from his counterpart,"
Sergio Guzman, president of the Colombia Risk Analysis consultancy, told AFP.

Guzman said that unless Petro learns "how to govern with the other half of
the country, we can expect four years of stalemate and brinksmanship."

One major worry for many is Petro's past as a radical leftist urban guerrilla
in the 1980s who spent almost two years in jail.

Left-wing ideology is intrinsically linked in many Colombians' minds to the
country's six-decade long multi-faceted conflict, leaving many to fear what a
Petro presidency would represent.

He has also vowed to negotiate with Colombia's last recognized Marxist
guerrillas, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

"To demonstrate he is not himself an extreme left wing politician, it would
be very complicated for him to open negotiations (with the ELN)," Elizabeth
Dickinson, Colombia analyst at the International Crisis Group in Bogota, told
AFP.