The presidential election is the first to take place after the war's end. Juan Manuel Santos, who succeeded Mr Uribe as president, signed a peace accord with the FARC in 2016. The group disarmed last year. But the election is no celebration of peace, which has both disappointed Colombians and raised their expectations. Smaller armed groups have occupied some of the territory vacated by the FARC and cultivation of coca, over which they fight, has surged (see article). FARC members are now guaranteed seats in congress and face light punishment for their crimes. Mr Uribe was the peace accord's most prominent critic. His ally is the front-runner in part because many Colombians wanted Mr Santos to take a much tougher line with the FARC.
But peace has also opened the door to the candidacy of Mr Uribe's antithesis, Gustavo Petro, an ex-member of M19, another guerrilla group, and a former mayor of Bogotá. Polls suggest he is running second to Mr Duque, making him the first left-wing politician with a serious chance of becoming president. “By disarming the left, peace made the left capable of playing a role in politics,” says Eduardo Pizano of the University of the Andes in Bogotá.
Many Colombians find that terrifying. Mr Petro has in the past said nice things about Hugo Chávez, the late leader of next-door Venezuela, whose socialist regime is destroying its economy and democracy and driving thousands of refugees into Colombia. Investors look upon Mr Petro with “utter fear”, says an economist. That has bolstered Mr Duque, whose supporters accuse the left-wing candidate of plotting to bring Cuban-Venezuelan “castrochavismo” to Colombia.
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