Colombia Picks 1st Leftist President In Runoff

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) – Colombia will be governed by a leftist president for the first time after former rebel Gustavo Petro narrowly defeated a real estate millionaire in a runoff election that underscored people’s disgust with the country’s traditional politicians. Petro’s third attempt to win the presidency earned him 50.48% of the votes Sunday. That’s according to results released by election authorities. Political outsider Rodolfo Hernández got 47.26% of the votes. The election came as Colombians struggle with rising inequality, inflation and violence. Those factors led voters in the election’s first round last month to punish long-governing centrist and right-leaning politicians and pick the two outsiders for the runoff.