2018 Colombian presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 27 May 2018.[1] As no candidate received a majority of the vote, the second round of voting was held on 17 June.[2] Incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos was ineligible for re-election because of already serving for two terms. President Iván Duque was elected to serve a four-year term from 7 August 2018 to 7 August 2022.

2018 Colombian presidential election

27 May 2018 (first round) 17 June 2018 (second round)
Turnout	54.22% (first round) 14.29% 53.93% (second round) 0.29%
Nominee Iván Duque Márquez Gustavo Petro Party Democratic Center Humane Colombia Alliance Grand Alliance for Colombia List of Decency Home state Bogotá Córdoba Running mate Marta Lucía Ramírez Ángela María Robledo Popular vote 10,398,689 8,040,449 Percentage 54.03% 41.77%
Candidate with the most votes in the first round by departments   Iván Duque   Gustavo Petro   Sergio Fajardo Candidate with the most votes in the second round by departments   Iván Duque   Gustavo Petro
President before election Juan Manuel Santos Social Party of National Unity Elected President Iván Duque Márquez Democratic Center

Electoral system

Presidents are elected for four-year terms using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff is held between the top two candidates.[2] The Vice President is elected on the same ticket as the President. Presidents are limited to a single four-year term and Article 191 of the constitution requires candidates to be Colombian by birth and at least thirty years old.

In line with the constitution, Colombian citizens by birth or by naturalization, aged eighteen or older have the right to vote. Several scenarios can cause the loss of the right to vote, as outlined in the constitution. Citizens in detention centers can vote from the establishments determined by the National Civil Registry. The civil registry inscription is not automatic, and citizens must go to the regional office of the Registry to register.[3]

Legislative act number 2 of 2015 established that the runner-up in the presidential elections is given a seat in the Senate and their Vice President candidate will become a member of the House of Representatives.[4]

Main candidates

Party/alliance		Presidential candidate	Vice Presidential candidate
	Colombia Coalition Civic Compromise Alternative Democratic Pole Green Alliance	Sergio Fajardo	Claudia López Hernández
	Liberal Party/Indigenous Social Alliance Coalition Colombian Liberal Party Indigenous Social Alliance Movement	Humberto de La Calle	Clara López
	List of Decency Alternative Indigenous and Social Movement Human Colombia Movement Patriotic Union	Gustavo Petro	Ángela María Robledo
	Grand Alliance for Colombia Democratic Center For an Honest and Strong Colombia La Patria de Pie Movement Partido Somos Región Colombia Free and Fair Colombia MIRA Party	Iván Duque Márquez	Marta Lucía Ramírez
	Mejor Vargas Lleras Mejor Vargas Lleras Movement Ante Todo Colombia Movement Radical Change Social Party of National Unity Colombian Conservative Party	Germán Vargas Lleras	Juan Carlos Pinzón
	We Are All Colombia	Jorge Antonio Trujillo	Fredy Obando Pinillo

Candidates that withdrew

The Common Alternative Revolutionary Force withdrew its presidential aspiration on 9 March 2018, stating the health problems of its candidate Rodrigo Londoño, as the reason.[5]

On 16 March 2018, Juan Carlos Pinzón ended his presidential campaign, accepting a role as Germán Vargas' Vice President candidate.[6]

Piedad Córdoba and her Vice presidential candidate Jaime Araújo Rentería terminated their candidacy on April 9th, 2018.[7]

Viviane Morales and her Vice presidential candidate Jorge Leyva Durán, of the Somos Región Colombia party, retired their candidacy on May 2nd, 2018.[8][9] After, Morales adhered to Iván Duque's campaign, while Leyva joined Germán Vargas Lleras' candidacy.[10]

Opinion polls

First-round

2017

Pollster	Date(s) conducted	Sample size	Candidate																			Margin of error
			Ordóñez	Navarro	Claudia López	Clara López	Santos	Vargas	Petro	De La Calle	Duque	Robledo	Galán	Pinzon	Ramos	Ramirez	Cordoba	Fajardo	Others	Blank vote	Don't know/No response
Invamer	2017-05-22	1200	4.9%	-	6.0%	8.4%	-	21.5%	14.2%	5.4%	-	4.0%	-	2.4%	7.7%	6.5%	2.8%	11.0%	-	6.3%	-	3.6%
Datexco	2017-05-26	900	1.1%	-	3.6%	5.9%	1.1%	16.5%	7.6%	1.5%	0.9%	2.4%	4.1%	1.2%	1.6%	2.6%	1.9%	12.1%	4.2%	-	31.3%	3.27%
EcoAnalitica	2017-07-17	1285	-	-	15.8%	-	-	15.1%	14.2%	3.1%	17.4%	7.2%	-	0.9%	-	2.5%	-	8.8%	-	8.2%	6.8%	3%
Cifras y Conceptos	2017-08-03	1800	6%	1%	10%	7%	-	13%	13%	3%	2%	4%	5%	2%	1%	1%	-	8%	6%	-	17%	5%
Datexco	2017-08-02	900	0.6%	2.2%	4.9%	6.7%	2.1%	5.3%	14.3%	2.5%	0.4%	2.9%	4.9%	2.2%	1.1%	2.5%	1.8%	10.3%	4.1%	-	31.4%	3.27%
Datexco	2017-09-07	900	2.1%	1.9%	5.3%	8.3%	-	6.7%	11.2%	3.4%	1.3%	2.5%	5.6%	1.7%	1.5%	2.7%	1.3%	9.6%	5%	-	29.9	3.27%
EcoAnalitica	2017-09-08	1657	2.0%	1.8%	9.0%	3.3%	-	8.3%	10.1%	3.9%	7.8%	3.7%	2.2%	1.6%	2.5%	2.1%	0.5%	6.9%	7.4%	20.7%	6.2%	2.6%
YanHass	2017-09-16	1250	3%	3%	6%	3%	2%	11%	9%	2%	1%	2%	4%	1%	1%	2%	2%	7%	4.8%	23%	13%	3.3%
Invamer	2017-09-28	1200	3.1%	-	11.2%	3.2%	-	12.5%	10.4%	8.3%	6.9%	5.3%	8.8%	1.2%	-	4.6%	1.4%	21.0%	-	2.1%	8.2%	3%
Cifras y Conceptos	2017-11-26	1795	2%	-	7%	5%	-	14%	17%	10%	2%	3%	-	1%	-	2%	1%	15%	1%	-	14%	4,5%
Invamer	2017-12-07	1200	1.2%	-	6.9%	2.9%	-	12%	14.3%	9.1%	8.4%	2%	3.6%	0.9%	-	8.7%	2.2%	18.7%	2.1%	6%	14%	9.6%

2018

Polling organisation/client	Date(s) conducted	Sample size	Candidate															Margin of error	Source
			Alejandro Ordóñez	Clara López	German Vargas Lleras	Gustavo Petro	Humberto de La Calle	Iván Duque Márquez	Juan Carlos Pinzon	Marta Lucia Ramirez	Piedad Cordoba	Sergio Fajardo	Viviane Morales	Rodrigo Londoño	Others	Blank vote	Don't know/No response
Guarumo	2018-02-02	2187	2.5%	3.2%	8.4%	12.5%	6.5%	12.2%	1.7%	5.8%	0.9%	14.6%	-	1.6%	1.6%	6%	16.3%	4%	El Tiempo, W Radio
YanHass	2018-02-02	1251	3%	3%	8%	13%	4%	6%	2%	2%	1%	14%	1%	1%	2%	6%	30%	2.2%	RCN
Invamer	2018-02-02	1200	-	4.2%	15.6%	23.5%	11%	9.2%	3.4%	-	1.7%	20.2%	2.2%	1.6%	-	6.7%	-	3%	Caracol TV, Blu Radio, Semana
Cifras y Conceptos	2018-02-02	2813	3%	4%	10%	16%	5%	8%	1%	5%	1%	19%	-	1%	4%	7%	16%	4.6%	Caracol Radio, Red+ Noticias
Centro Nacional de Consultoría	2018-02-08	1187	1%	-	10%	23%	5%	8%	2%	6%	2%	18%	1%	1%	1%	22%	-	3.6%	Noticiero CM&
Centro Nacional de Consultoría	2018-02-22	1175	2%	-	8%	22%	5%	15%	2%	6%	1%	16%	2%	0%	1%	20%	-	3.8%	Noticiero CM&
Centro Estratégico Latinoamericano de Geopolítica	2018-02-28	1200	-	5.6%	13.5%	19%	7.3%	6.2%	-	8.4%	5%	24%	-	-	3.5%	7.5%	-	1% - 2.8%	-
Cifras y Conceptos	2018-03-01	2960	3%	-	8%	22%	4%	22%	1%	6%	1%	11%	2%	1%	1%	2%	6%	4.5%	Caracol Radio, Red+ Noticias
Guarumo	2018-03-04	3425	1.5%	-	6.3%	23.1%	4.1%	23.6%	1%	5.7%	0.3%	8.1%	0.8%	0.3%	1.5%	13.2%	10.5%	2.7%	El Tiempo, W Radio
Centro Nacional de Consultoría	2018-03-08	1192	3%	-	7%	21%	4%	38%	1%	11%	1%	12%	2%	1%	1%	18%	-	3.6%	Noticiero CM&
Invamer	2018-03-27	1200	-	-	6.3%	26.7%	5%	45.9%	-	-	-	10.7%	2.5%	-	-	-	-	-	portafolio.co
Invamer	2018-04-27	1200	-	-	7.9%	31%	2.5%	41.3%	-	-	-	13.3%	2%	-	0.1%	1.9%	46.5%	3%	Semana

Second round

Former candidate of Sergio Fajardo, leader of Movimiento Compromiso Ciudadano, announced his blank vote for the second round,[11] as well as former liberal candidate Humberto de La Calle, although his party joined Iván Duque's campaign.[12] The Alternative Democratic Pole joined Gustavo Petro's campaign, but a minority sector led by Senator Jorge Robledo (MOIR) decided to vote blank too.[13] The directive of Green Alliance let their followers to choose between supporting Gustavo Petro or voting blank, but considered unacceptable to support Iván Duque.[14] Movimiento Mejor Vargas Lleras and the Radical Change party sent the program of their former candidate to Iván Duque to consider it for a future government, although there was not an official adhesion.[15] The Partido de la U and the Social Party of National Unity let their voters choose freely to vote for their preferred option.[16][17]

Polling organisation/client	Date(s) conducted	Sample size	Candidate				Margin of error	Source
			Gustavo Petro	Iván Duque Márquez	Blank vote	Don't know/No response
Centro Nacional de Consultoría	2018-05-31	1323	35%	55%	10%	-	3.05%	Noticiero CM&
YanHaas	2018-06-05	1251	34%	52%	14%	-	3.2%	RCN, La FM, El Colombiano
Mosqueteros	2018-06-07	2147	38.3%	50.2%	11.5%	-	2.17%	JPG, MSM, Yamil Cure Ruíz
Invamer	2018-06-07	1200	37.3%	57.2%	5.5%	-	2.83%	Caracol TV, Blu Radio, Semana
Datexco	2018-06-08	1993	40.2%	46.2%	13.6%	-	2.31%	W Radio
Cifras & Conceptos	2018-06-08	1983	36.4%	45.3%	18.3%	-	4.8%	Caracol Radio, RED+ Noticias
Centro Nacional de Consultoría	2018-06-09	1591	38%	51%	11%	-	2.8%	Noticiero CM&
Guarumo	2018-06-10	3955	36%	52.5%	11.5%	-	2.1%	El Tiempo, W Radio
CELAG /	2018-06-11	2063	40%	45.5%	7.7%	6.8%	2.2%

Results

Candidate with the most votes in the first round by municipality:

  Iván Duque - Marta Lucía Ramírez

  Gustavo Petro - Ángela María Robledo

  Sergio Fajardo - Claudia López

  Germán Vargas Lleras - Juan Carlos Pinzón

Candidate		Party/alliance	First round		Second round
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	Iván Duque Márquez	Grand Alliance for Colombia	7,569,693	39.14	10,373,080	53.98
	Gustavo Petro	List of Decency	4,851,254	25.09	8,034,189	41.81
	Sergio Fajardo	Colombia Coalition	4,589,696	23.73
	Germán Vargas Lleras	Mejor Vargas Lleras	1,407,840	7.28
	Humberto De la Calle	PLC–ASI	399,180	2.06
	Jorge Antonio Trujillo	We Are All Colombia	75,614	0.39
	Promotores Voto En Blanco	Party of Ethnic Reclamation "PRE"	60,312	0.31
	Viviane Morales Hoyos	Somos Región Colombia	41,458	0.21
Blank votes			341,087	1.76	808,104	4.21
Invalid votes			300,080	–	295,499	–
Total			19,336,134	100	19,510,684	100
Registered voters/turnout			36,227,267	53.37	36,783,940	53.04
Source: El Tiempo Government

First round votes by department

Department	Duque		Petro		Fajardo		Vargas		De la Calle		Trujillo		Morales
	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
Amazonas	7,114	39.02%	5,931	32.53%	2,693	14.77%	1,295	7.10%	739	4.05%	87	0.47%	51	0.27%
Antioquia	1,367,745	53.10%	238,440	9.25%	731,609	28.40%	99,642	3.86%	59,974	2.32%	7,626	0.29%	5,203	0.20%
Arauca	49,415	56.70%	17,824	20.45%	12,036	13.81%	3,336	3.82%	1,588	1.82%	395	0.45%	229	0.26%
Atlántico	234,045	27.18%	331,687	38.52%	85,634	9.94%	171,968	19.97%	16,728	1.94%	3,872	0.44%	2,244	0.26%
Bogotá	983,931	26.78%	1,098,478	29.90%	1,240,799	33.77%	172,158	4.68%	93,830	2.55%	13,959	0.37%	6,354	0.17%
Bolívar	256,732	40.61%	242,378	38.33%	55,468	8.77%	52,111	8.24%	10,304	1.62%	2,544	0.40%	1,616	0.25%
Boyacá	225,146	40.81%	122,686	22.24%	148,029	26.83%	29,967	5.43%	10,647	1.93%	1,959	0.35%	1,321	0.23%
Cauca	107,141	22.84%	230,919	49.24%	60,891	12.98%	42,032	8.96%	13,128	2.79%	2,533	0.54%	1,228	0.26%
Cesar	171,647	43.60%	141,502	35.94%	29,021	7.37%	39,281	9.97%	3,112	0.79%	1,831	0.46%	948	0.24%
Chocó	30,136	26.14%	49,552	42.98%	3,834	3.32%	24,343	21.11%	3,843	3.33%	536	0.46%	504	0.43%
Caldas	190,557	42.91%	34,694	7.81%	161,420	36.35%	30,784	6.93%	14,322	3.22%	1,449	0.32%	1,215	0.27%
Córdoba	228,190	38.70%	249,303	42.28%	22,396	3.79%	66,728	11.31%	10,448	1.77%	3,186	0.54%	1,387	0.23%
Caquetá	67,884	52.23%	29,965	23.05%	21,157	16.28%	3,497	2.69%	2,675	2.05%	443	0.34%	381	0.29%
Casanare	107,131	60.25%	23,130	13.00%	38,047	21.39%	3,445	1.93%	1,473	0.82%	579	0.32%	371	0.20%
Cundinamarca	475,359	40.13%	236,862	19.99%	328,519	27.73%	85,862	7.24%	20,567	1.73%	5,115	0.43%	2,810	0.23%
Guainía	3,872	40.92%	2,126	22.47%	1,218	12.87%	1,839	19.43%	185	1.95%	45	0.47%	27	0.28%
Guaviare	11,488	46.13%	5,762	23.13%	3,869	15.53%	1,646	6.60%	927	3.72%	141	0.56%	85	0.34%
Huila	240,669	53.48%	95,270	21.17%	77,837	17.29%	17,623	3.91%	7,155	1.59%	1,067	0.23%	798	0.17%
La Guajira	76,137	38.51%	85,149	43.07%	10,243	5.18%	18,010	9.11%	3,492	1.76%	889	0.44%	481	0.24%
Magdalena	160,752	38.23%	143,107	34.03%	28,233	6.71%	71,896	17.10%	6,811	1.62%	1,833	0.43%	992	0.23%
Meta	211,322	49.36%	75,945	17.73%	101,987	23.82%	21,473	5.01%	4,737	1.10%	1,832	0.42%	855	0.19%
Nariño	134,455	26.09%	238,683	46.33%	70,707	13.72%	44,709	8.67%	10,455	2.02%	1,376	0.26%	1,333	0.25%
Norte de Santander	377,152	61.00%	56,848	9.19%	102,210	16.53%	63,525	10.27%	6,108	0.98%	2,424	0.39%	1,091	0.17%
Putumayo	23,136	22.81%	60,520	59.68%	9,788	9.65%	1,850	1.82%	2,973	2.93%	253	0.24%	200	0.19%
Quindío	109,072	41.92%	30,357	11.66%	97,741	37.57%	11,861	4.55%	4,335	1.66%	1,010	0.38%	480	0.18%
Risaralda	175,159	40.38%	54,207	12.49%	164,736	37.98%	20,657	4.76%	7,645	1.76%	1,054	0.24%	816	0.18%
San Andrés y Providencia	5,691	44.71%	2,361	18.55%	1,986	15.60%	1,507	11.84%	655	5.14%	150	1.17%	32	0.25%
Santander	439,664	44.35%	171,806	17.33%	271,849	27.42%	63,762	6.43%	17,250	1.74%	4,180	0.42%	2,059	0.20%
Sucre	129,004	37.00%	154,208	44.23%	12,041	3.45%	40,761	11.69%	4,805	1.37%	2,121	0.60%	937	0.26%
Tolima	284,138	49.59%	95,458	16.66%	117,874	20.57%	49,266	8.59%	11,775	2.05%	2,112	0.36%	1,217	0.21%
Valle del Cauca	523,898	29.97%	485,943	27.80%	499,925	28.60%	137,245	7.85%	40,923	2.34%	8,523	0.48%	3,684	0.21%
Vaupés	1,013	15.09%	2,514	37.47%	553	8.24%	1,359	20.25%	1,141	17.00%	24	0.35%	21	0.31%
Vichada	8,466	53.68%	3,244	20.57%	1,513	9.59%	1,962	12.44%	207	1.31%	68	0.43%	88	0.55%
Source: El Tiempo

Second round votes by department

Candidate with the most votes in the second round by municipality:

  Iván Duque - Marta Lucía Ramírez

  Gustavo Petro - Ángela María Robledo

Department	Iván Duque		Gustavo Petro
	Votes	%	Votes	%
Amazonas	9 962	50.42%	9 324	47.19%
Antioquia	1 844 027	72.53%	558 514	21.97%
Arauca	59 417	64.94%	28 858	31.54%
Atlántico	342 866	42.82%	440 103	54.96%
Bogotá	1 447 685	40.98%	1 884 869	53.35%
Bolívar	345 415	51.18%	316 670	46.92%
Boyacá	308 733	54.81%	233 755	41.50%
Cauca	160 191	32.19%	323 443	65.00%
Cesar	216 750	54.24%	174 175	43.58%
Chocó	46 289	39.21%	69 448	58.82%
Caldas	283 920	65.67%	121 476	28.09%
Córdoba	310 231	50.16%	298 944	48.34%
Caquetá	79 689	62.17%	43 511	33.94%
Casanare	127 906	72.78%	41 559	23.64%
Consulates	180 995	69.91%	69 558	26.86%
Cundinamarca	658 212	56.48%	452 307	38.81%
Guainía	5 873	57.06%	4 097	39.80%
Guaviare	15 755	58.35%	9 838	36.43%
Huila	296 245	64.71%	146 530	32.01%
La Guajira	106 328	49.89%	103 271	48.45%
Magdalena	226 136	51.83%	201 567	46.20%
Meta	264 513	63.95%	131 819	31.87%
Nariño	192 588	33.53%	366 673	63.85%
Norte de Santander	486 004	77.89%	112 496	18.03%
Putumayo	30 918	27.88%	77 220	69.63%
Quindío	156 973	62.76%	78 071	31.21%
Risaralda	257 267	61.57%	136 646	32.70%
San Andrés y Providencia	9 303	61.20%	5 282	34.75%
Santander	591 714	60.30%	345 224	35.18%
Sucre	171 322	48.25%	178 934	50.39%
Tolima	379 766	65.89%	174 655	30.30%
Valle del Cauca	746 819	43.66%	885 289	51.76%
Vaupés	3 096	38.75%	4 759	59.56%
Vichada	10 172	63.94%	5 304	33.34%

References

1. Resolution No 5552 Archived 2017-06-06 at the Wayback Machine National Civil Registry (Colombia)
2. Explainer: Colombia's 2018 Elections AS/COA, 28 June 2017
3. Colombia. "¿Cómo funciona el proceso de inscripción de cédulas?". Colombia.
4. Secretaria General del Senado. "Acto Legislativo número 02 de 2015". secretariasenado.gov.co (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 March 2018.
5. Manetto, Francesco (9 March 2018). "Las FARC retiran su candidatura a la presidencia de Colombia". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
6. "Vargas Lleras confirma a Juan Carlos Pinzón como fórmula vicepresidencial | ELESPECTADOR.COM". ELESPECTADOR.COM (in Spanish). 16 March 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
7. Bonces, Eduardo. "Piedad Córdoba no despegó y se retiró". www.elcolombiano.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 April 2018.
8. Muñoz, Leonardo. "Viviane Morales Renuncia a su candidatura presidencial". www.eltiempo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 May 2018.
9. "Viviane Morales renunció a su candidatura presidencial". www.lafm.com.co (in Spanish). Retrieved 2 May 2018.
10. Marulanda, Olga Patricia Rendón. "Partido de Viviane Morales se dividió entre Duque y Vargas Lleras". www.elcolombiano.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 May 2018.
11. "Ni Petro, ni Duque: Sergio Fajardo anuncia que votará en blanco" (in Spanish). Semana. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
12. "Humberto de la Calle votará en blanco" (in Spanish). Semana. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
13. "Polo Democrático se decide por Gustavo Petro" (in Spanish). El Espectador. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
14. "Alianza Verde convoca a votar contra Duque" (in Spanish). El Espectador. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
15. "Cambio Radical entrega a Duque el programa de gobierno de Vargas Lleras" (in Spanish). Semana. 28 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
16. "Partido de la U deja en libertad a sus electores" (in Spanish). El Colombiano. 29 May 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
17. "La ASI deja en libertad a su militancia de cara a la segunda vuelta" (in Spanish). El Heraldo. 12 June 2018. Retrieved 13 June 2018.