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A Puzzle Awaits Colombia's Next President – and Washington

By Cynthia J. Arnson, Jamie L. Shenk

Soaring coca cultivation and a troubled peace deal will demand attention, but most voters are worried about other priorities.

On Sunday, Colombians will vote to elect a new president. Polls suggest that Iván Duque of the Democratic Center, a charismatic young senator and protégé of former president Álvaro Uribe, will receive the highest number of votes, but not the absolute majority needed to avoid a second round. Polls also suggest that in a run-off scheduled for early June, he will handily defeat the likely second-place finisher Gustavo Petro, a leftist former mayor of Bogotá, who has channeled the anti-establishment fervor currently coursing through Colombia and other Latin American countries.

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